


Who the Hell is Lance McClain?

by Caravaggiyo94



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Badass Keith, F/M, Falling In Love, Halloween, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Mobsters, Mutual Pining, Pidge | Katie Holt Being a Little Shit, Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Swimming, They're so into each other I just can't, Violence, mafia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:59:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8356183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caravaggiyo94/pseuds/Caravaggiyo94
Summary: In the world of organized crime there are just two rules: 1) Family comes first and 2) Don't stand out. Too bad Keith isn't technically a part of the family and being hopelessly in love with another boy is a big no no when you're a part of the Italian mafia. Will Lance be able to help him, or will it blow up in their faces?





	1. Lance McClain

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my first work about Voltron and I'm so excited. I hope you all enjoy it and let me know if you did :) or didnt in a comment. Happy reading!

This was not how this day was supposed to go. Hell, this wasn’t how his life was supposed to go. He was supposed to go to school, pass his classes, and get his degree so he could help support his ridiculously large family, but of course that’s not what happened and he only had one person to blame. Lance’s eyes shift to the black haired boy sitting opposite of him and he has to stop the shiver that threatens to run through him. Fuck him and his stupid hair. That stupid, perfect, beautiful mullet. Who the hell had a mullet anymore? Didn’t they go out of style hundreds of years ago like before the founding of America?

“…So dumb.”

“What?”

Lance’s head snaps right to look at Hunk who just stares at him confused. Hunk’s eyes roam his friends face as he raises a brow.

“What?”

Hunk shakes his head and goes back to focusing on their lecture. Lance sighs and slides down further into his seat crossing his arms in the process. How could Hunk expect him to focus on accounting when there was this beautiful distraction less than 100 feet away from him? Ugh. Straight boys would never understand. After the longest hour in the history of forever their professor wraps up their lecture by handing out a paper with something on it that was probably important, but Lance just needed to get out of this room and away from that perfect annoyance. Lance quickly throws his things into his backpack and stands up but Hunk pulls him back down into his seat.

“What-“

“Listen.”

“Your teams are listed on the sheets that were just passed around as well as the instructions for the project. Meet with your teammate sooner rather than later because I promise you, this will take you the whole time. Start early, this is worth 40% of your grade. ”

The middle-aged man takes a second to look at all of his students and Lance groans.

“…Okay get out of here.”

Everyone stands and makes their way to the door heading to wherever they needed to be. Lance takes off out of the lecture hall avoiding eye contact with any and all people as he goes. Hunk eventually catches up with Lance and nudges him slightly out of breath.

“What the hell Lance? You just ran out of there.”

“Yeah I…have somewhere to be.”

Hunk laughs and looks at his friend as they make their way outside.

“Did you look at our pairs? Or even pay attention at all during that class?”

“Umm yes?”

Hunk raises a brow and looks unconvinced making Lance groan.

“Okay no I didn’t, but can you blame me? That class is so boring.”

Hunk rolls his eyes but pauses when their professor passes them giving Lance an unforgiving look. Lance’s face instantly pales as he tries smiling off the tension.

“Ah Mr. McClain. I hope this project will be able to keep your interest more than my lecture apparently has. I’ll be looking forward to your presentation at the end of the semester.”

“Same Dr. Stryker.”

The greying man raises a brow and nods before walking off to his office leaving a very flustered Lance in his wake. Hunk has to control his laughter but a few chuckles escape making Lance glare at him.

“Oh you just loved that didn’t you?”

“That was the best thing that has ever happened. Ever.”

Lance groans and continues walking making Hunk jog to keep up with him.

“Ugh I hate when you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Use your ridiculously long legs to run away from me.”

Lance shrugs his backpack up higher on his shoulders and continues to walk towards the parking lot. Hunk rolls his eyes and catches up to him after a few seconds.

“You do realize you’re trying to run away from me to my car.”

Lance sniffs indignantly.

“…Yes.”

Hunk laughs again making Lance glare at him. Eventually they make it to the back of the lot where Hunk had parked this morning and Lance leans against the beaten up car waiting for his friend to unlock it. His eyes slowly roam the lot watching everyone talk with their friends and pull out onto the street. After a few seconds his eyes find the stupid mullet and he follows him as he walks through the cars. Lance’s brows knit together as he tries to guess which car is his, but instead a large Escalade pulls up in front of him and takes off down the street after a few seconds.

“Lance!”

“What?”

Hunk looks at him with his door open and motions to him.

“Get in. I’ve been trying to get your attention for almost a minute.”

Lance turns slightly but keeps his eyes on where he had seen the Escalade pick up the other young man.

“Did you see that?”

Hunk rolls his eyes and gets into his compact car, making Lance follow suit. He quickly hops in and buckles up before launching into his speculation.

“That was a huge car Hunk! Why would mullet boy need a car like that?”

Hunk glances at his friend as he drives through the streets letting Lance continue.

“But seriously, Hunk. Aren’t you curious? Is he like a drug dealer? Ooh or a playboy millionaire? Oh! I got it! Mullet boy-“

“Keith.”

“He’s- wait what?”

Hunk chuckles as Lance stops mid sentence and looks at him confused.

“Mullet boy. His name is Keith. He’s been in tons of our classes Lance.”

Lance deflates slightly and he continues with less enthusiasm as before.

“No I know, but, I’ve never…”

“Talked to him? Introduced yourself?”

Lance hugs his backpack to his chest and nods. Hunk sighs and pats his friend’s knee.

“Dude, continue. What’s up with Mullet-boy?”

Lance glances at Hunk before smiling and continuing.

“International drug dealer.”

“Ooh that’d be interesting.”

Lance nods enthusiastically.

“I’m glad you agree, because I think so…but anyway, mom’s making a big dinner this weekend. It’s Sophia’s birthday so of course the whole family is coming over and we’re celebrating.”

“What’s the theme?”

Lance laughs and shrugs.

“Princess? Maybe? She’s been obsessed with those Elsa and Anna people.”

“One of my favorites.”

Lance snorts in amusement making Hunk laugh harder.

“She’d love if you came though, seriously. Told me to invite you especially. “

Hunk glows at that knowledge and nods.

“I’ll be there. You know I’d never turn down your mom’s cooking.”

“We are well fed at casa McClain.”

“You wouldn’t know it from looking at you.”

Lance looks away with a smug expression.

“No need to get rude Hunk just because you’re jealous.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry I insulted your less than average body mass.”

Lance turns and starts hitting Hunk making the larger male laugh and fight him off while keeping them on the road.

\------------------------------------------------------

On the other side of town Keith stares out the window with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. The driver of the car glances at him through the rearview mirror and tries to think of something to say.

“…How was school?”

Keith looks up at the driver and raises a dark brow. The driver swallows nervously but Keith takes pity on the man and shrugs.

“School’s school. Nothing much to report…how’s driving?”

The driver raises his brow and shrugs.

“Um fine?”

Keith smirks slightly and nods.

“You’re new aren’t you?”

“Uh yes sir. I’m Tommy.”

Keith nods to him and takes a closer look at the man in front of him. He was clearly older than him but still had a baby face with tan skin and dark hair with eyes to match. Typical Italian complexion.

“How’d you get stuck driving me?”

Tommy’s brows knit together at his question.

“I was told to drive-“

“Oh say no more. Tony gave you the job.”

“Yes sir.”

Keith nods.

“Well my bike should be out of the shop today so you won’t have to worry about doing this that often.”

“I don’t mind-“

“I’m sure you don’t, but I do.”

Keith offers him the smallest of smiles and shrugs.

“I like to drive. Get bored being in the backseat.”

Tommy doesn’t look too sure and it flashes across his face.

“I’m not sure Tony will agree to that.”

“Let me worry about my father.”

Tommy’s brows shoot up his face and Keith shrugs as he stops the car in the driveway.

“Confusing right? You’ll get used to it…thanks for the ride Tommy.”

Tommy nods and Keith slips out of the car making his way inside of the large home. He slowly opens the door and listens for anyone roaming around the house. Not hearing any footsteps or voices he shuts the door and races through the house heading to the backyard. Keith smiles when he thinks he’s home free but a loud booming voice stops him in his tracks. Turning towards the expansive pool and patio area his eyes land on two large men sitting at the table. He’s waved over by the larger of the two men with coifed hair and an expensive suit on. Keith looks him over and lists the price tags off in his head calculating up the ridiculous total as he walks over.

“Ah my boy! Keith. How was school?”

Keith shrugs.

“Good. The same as yesterday.”

Tony smiles brightly and slaps the man’s shoulder sitting next to him getting his attention.

“Ah that’s my boy. He’s so bright, school is a fucking breeze for him. A breeze! What’re you going for again Keith?”

Keith shifts his weight to his other foot and stands up a little straighter.

“Business.”

“Ah yes my business genius. He’s going to do great things for the family, I can just feel it. I’m never wrong about these things. Right Antonio?”

“Nope boss, never. Got the best instincts of anyone in the family.”

Tony nods and looks back at Keith before standing with a grimace. Keith knows instantly what he’s going to complain about but is instead staring at the way Antonio is looking at him which made his skin crawl.

“Ugh what is this? What are these clothes you wear?”

Tony pulls at his plain jeans and black shirt and red jacket.

“You have such nice clothes Keith. I buy you such nice things don’t I? I take care of you and you continue to dress like this? Someone’s going to think I don’t take care of my own.”  
Keith sighs and looks at his dad with an uncomfortable smile.

“No you take care of me…I’ll start dressing nicer.”

Tony rests his big meaty hands on his son’s shoulders and smiles down at him.

“At that’s my boy. All right get out of here. I have business to attend to. Lot’s of appliances to sell.”

He ruffles Keith’s hair and pushes his slightly towards the pool house with a loud laugh. As he turns around and heads to his room his face falls and he has to stop himself from running into the house. Everything about that encounter made him uncomfortable and there was something off about his dad. Keith chooses to ignore the weird feeling and unwinds from his day. Throwing his backpack onto his large bed he sprawls on top of his blankets and stares at his ceiling. The posters of space and different planets make him smile and calm him down slightly, but the interaction outside frustrated him. He already knew he didn’t fit in; he didn’t need his dad’s henchmen to stare at him reminding him of that fact. Keith sighs and rolls slightly so he can stare out his window and the houses over the tall fence. What if someone over there had adopted him? Would his life be completely different? Or would it still end up like this?

“Stop it. This is what your life is and you need to suck it up.”

His face falls and he curses when he feels tears welling up in his eyes.

“Quiznak.”

He rubs his eyes angrily and reminds himself if there was one thing the mafia hated more than outsiders, were sensitive outsiders. No. He promised himself a long time ago when he found out that his dad didn’t really sell appliances, but instead sold “protection” he wouldn’t let himself be the center of any jokes. He was a Galucci. He had a reputation to uphold and if that meant he had to start wearing the suits every once in a while, he would. After wallowing in his own self-pity for a few more minutes Keith sits up and pulls out his homework but accidentally pulls out another paper along with it. He grabs it before it can fall off the bed and stares at it recalling what his professor had said about a project earlier. He finds his name and looks at the person he’s paired with and pauses thinking about everyone in his class.

“…Lance McClain. Who the hell is Lance McClain?”


	2. The Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow thank you to everyone who have left kudos or commented on the first chapter! Y'all are awesome! Hope you like the new chapter, and please let me know what you think :)

Keith knew who Lance McClain was and he wanted to tear his hair out or yell at the universe. Of all the people in this fucking room, he got paired with the one boy that made him want to die every class. It had been this way for almost 2 years. Ever since he started taking classes here it made focusing the hardest thing in the world for him. Keith internally groans and glances at the tan boy sitting in the row below him and to his right. He was facing the board, for once, and sitting next to a large male in a yellow jacket. Huh, yellow was a rough color to pull off and he did it. Keith was probably more impressed than he should have been but he continues to stare at the two of them until Lance casually glances back at Keith catching his eye. Both of them go stiff and quickly look anywhere but at each other. Keith looks back at his notes and swears multiple times trying to calm himself down. What the hell Keith? He's just some boy! Why was he getting so flustered? Keith sighs angrily and forces himself to restart his notes. He goes the rest of the period without even glancing at Keith but he knows he has to talk to him if he wanted to pass this class.

“I could drop…”

Keith rolls his eyes at himself and sighs. He’s not dropping. He needed this class to graduate. Ugh, his fate was inevitable. When Dr. Stryker finishes up his lecture Keith tries to mentally prepare himself for their conversation but his movements slow as he packs up his things. He slowly stands up and swings his suit jacket around to put it back on. He smooth’s out his outfit and sighs. Stupid suits. He grabs his messenger bag and heads down the stairs after Lance. He tries finding him in the halls for a few minutes but after a while he gives up. It's as if he disappeared off the face of the Earth, which relieves Keith but also annoys him to no end. He was always there when he didn’t want him to be and now he was gone?

"What the hell?"

He looks around one more time and groans before fishing his phone out of his pocket and walking outside angrily. He dials Tommy’s number and continues to walk until something bumps him and he quickly reaches for his pocket out of habit. His phone goes flying and he stands remembering where he is only to see a tall boy bend down and grab the phone. 

“Oh man I'm so sorry! Totally wasn't watching where I was going. Hunk is always saying..."

Keith looks at the other person and his face falls when Lance stares back at him. Lance’s face pales slightly and he glances anywhere but Keith making the shorter male instantly self-conscious.

“Oh uh hi.”

“Hey.”  
They stand there awkwardly avoiding eye contact with each other until Lance catches his finger on something and curses. 

"Holy quiznak! Ow."

Keith looks at him worriedly and then down at his hand seeing crimson stain his tan skin. 

"Oh."

He grabs Lance’s wrist and takes his phone with a shattered glass screen away from him. Lance stills and watches the shorter man check his thumb for any glass shards inside the cut while holding onto his hand. When he decides his thumb isn't going to fall off at any second he gently lets go making Lance miss the heat of his grip instantly. He can feel himself blush and he tries to clam himself down.

“Oh uh thank you?”

“You're welcome...sorry about the thumb.”

“Totally my fault. I'm a klutz!”

Lance laughs awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck with his good hand. Keith nods while looking at the mangled device in his hand and groans when he sees the . 

“Well this is a goner.”

“Rip.”

Keith smirks slightly and lets out a small laugh making Lance smile brightly at the cute noise. 

“Uh were you trying to call someone? You can use my phone if you want?”

Keith looks from his face to the phone in his outstretched hand but shakes his head. Touching him again would be too much for him…and he didn’t even know the number by heart.

“I'm fine, but thanks. It should have already gone through so he knows where to pick me up.”

Lances face falls slightly but nods as he slips the phone back into his jacket pocket. 

“Okay cool. Sorry about the phone again. I can pay to fix it-“

“No it's fine. It's not a big deal.”

Lance looks at him worriedly and sucks on his hurt thumb slightly.

“You sure? Phones are expensive.”

Keith’s eyes widen at Lance and his finger in his mouth but he clears his throat and looks away. Not good.

“I have insurance. Thanks though.”

Lance nods and smiles down at him taking the finger out of his mouth. Keith stares at him and has to remind himself to breath. Man this kid had a great smile. 

“Okay well I'm supposed to meet my friend at their car but I'll see you around?”

“Oh yeah sure.”

Lance offers him another smile and goes to turn, but Keith suddenly remembers why he was looking for him in the first place. 

“Oh wait!”

Lance turns back with the same smile and Keith takes a second to prepare himself. 

“We're uh, together.”

Lance raises a brow in amusement and smiles even brighter at Keith making him groan internally.

“Excuse me?”

“We're-“

A black Escalade pulls up beside them both making them turn towards it. The passenger side window rolls down, and the largest man Lance had ever seen stares out at the two of them. 

“Keith.”

“Coming.”

Lance looks from the huge imposing man that just spoke to Keith and watches the blacked out window roll up. Keith's body tenses and he looks at Lance again who looks even more confused. 

“We're partners. For Stryker’s class. We have to get together.”

Lance chuckles in amusement and Keith groans and can feel his ears heat up from embarrassment. 

“Uh you know what I mean. Here's my number.” 

Keith grabs Lance’s hand and quickly pulls out a pen and writes his number on it before letting him go. Lance stares at the number and looks back up at Keith with an unreadable expression. Keith runs a hand through his mullet and smiles quickly.

“Um text me. About the project…okay.” 

Keith turns and gets into the Escalade, which peels off, onto the street. Lance watches them go and feels his cheeks heat up. This was too much. Keith was too much. Lance looks down at his hand again and doesn’t dare close it in fear of skewing one of the numbers up. Man, Hunk would get a kick out of this. Lance quickly turns around and looks out at the parking lot. Hunk! He had to tell Hunk! Lance runs into the lot heading for Hunk’s car. When he sees it and it's driver he begins waving like a mad man to get his attention. When Hunk turns around there's a smaller person standing next to him who makes Lance pause his crazy mannerisms. 

“Lance what the heck? Why're you doing a crazy chicken dance?”

Lance pauses and looks at the strawberry blonde haired person with glasses and raises a brow. He points down at the small human and glances at Hunk.

“Um, who is this?”

“Pidge.”

Lance makes a face and looks at her closely. 

“Pidge? Like pigeon?”

The person looks less than amused and Lance smirks. 

“Alright nice to meet you Pidge… Hunk!”

Hunk jumps in fright and looks at his friend.

“Ah what? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Lance rolls his eyes and throws his hand out to for Pidge and Hunk to look at. They stare at the numbers scrawled there and then look at Lance’s face.

“Uh you learned numbers?”

Lance looks less than amused at Pidge who laughs at her own joke.

“You- I know numbers! We spoke!”

Hunk continues to look confused and waits for more information but Lance just stares at his hand.

“What? Who? Lance I need more than that.”

Lance rolls his eyes at Hunk’s not immediate understanding of his gibberish.

“Ugh, right. Me and mullet boy!”

“Keith?”

Lance nods with a smile.

“Yeah okay, Keith, whatever. We spoke! And I got his number! And broke his phone but he has insurance so if doesn't matter!”

Hunk and Pidge share a look at all the information being thrown at them and Hunk smiles apologetically. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down Lance. We can barely understand you.”

Lance stops speaking but the smile on his face is still shining brilliantly. 

“Keith. I talked to him. He gave me his number. We are partners.” 

Pidge nods with a noise of understanding. 

“Ohh so you guys are dating now?”

“Yes! Wait, no what?”

Lance looks at her confused and Pidge smiles uncomfortably but laughs at Lance’s beet red face.

“Okay that was wrong. Sorry.”

Lance blushes and rubs the back of his neck. 

“Uh yeah no we're definitely not boyfriends. He's probably straight honestly.”

Pidge looks at him sympathetically before glancing at hunk as he looks at his best friend with sympathy. 

“Nah I bet he’s the gayest person on the planet. Come on; let's go to my house. Pidge and I are going to start working on our project and you should too.”

“Thanks Hunk.”

Hunk nods to his friend with a smile and Pidge looks between them enjoying their interesting friendship. Lance goes to grab the passenger seat door, but Pidge puts her small body in front of him and gives him a look making him get into the back. Lance grumbles to himself as he gets in keeping his hand with the number on it from smudging. 

“Just so you know, I get the front seat from now on after this day.” 

“Sure you do.”

Lance leans forward looking at Pidge sternly through the rear view mirror trying to intimidate her but Pidge just raises a brow. 

“What are you doing? Why are you making that face? Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?

Lance’s mouth drops open and he looks at her horrified. 

“I’m- I’m intimidating you. Aren’t you intimidated?”

Pidge laughs and shake her head.

“Um no?”

Lance visibly deflates making her and Hunk laugh. 

“Sorry Lance. My brother is an FBI recruit. I don't get intimidated easily.”

Lance and Hunk both perk up at that knowledge and looks at her closely. 

“Ooh FBI?”

Pidge nods enthusiastically. 

“Yeah him and his friend got recruited out of the police academy and they're almost done. They work downtown at the station.”

Hunk looks at Lance who looks enthralled with Pidge and has stopped trying to freak her out. 

“Sit back Lance. “

He groans and rolls his eyes at his friend.

“Ugh yes mom.” 

The taller boy begrudgingly sits back and buckles himself in before staring out the window as they drive. His mind wanders as Hunk and Pidge talk about something scientific and way over his head. Keith's face flashes in his mind and he smiles at the memory of Keith fumbling around in front of him. If he didn't know better he'd think he was nervous to talk to him but that couldn't be true…why would he be nervous? Lance was the one that knocked into him and rambled because he was nervous...but the little smile that Keith has when he thinks something is funny makes his stomach do a backflip. It was probably one of the cutest things he has ever seen and he decided in that moment that getting to Keith full on smile was his new goal for his life. Lance let's out a sigh and closes his eyes as they continue to drive. This was going to be a mess. 

 

Since Keith had gotten into the large SUV he knew something was off. Tony was talking to Tommy about some pick up they had to make later tonight and they weren't driving in the direction of home. 

“Where are we going?”

Tommy glances back at Keith but doesn't respond letting Tony speak. 

“Capellini’s.”

Keith’s eyes widen which Tommy sees but Tony misses.

“Need to check on something. Shouldn't take that long but I figured you needed to start getting acquainted with some of the other parts of my job.”

“Oh uh okay.”

“Ah don't be mad at me Keith! You'll learn to love it. You're made for this.”

Keith mulls over his dads words and nods. He'd be lying if he said he didn't know he was being groomed to take over for his dad, but for some reason Tony always forgets Keith is half Korean and the other half is most definitely not Italian. He would never be accepted to take that position and would most likely die shortly after Tony does. You didn't leave this business any other way…

“Keith, c’mon.”

He nods and steps out of the car before fixing his jacket as he follows his dad. They were at the Capellini Restaurant, a staple of Italian food and culture in this part of town. It also served as the meeting ground of all the capos and bosses in the area making this either a great or awful place to be. Tony enters the restaurant with Keith right behind him making everyone in the restaurant look at them. 

“Ah Tony!”

“Vincenzo!”

A man with an apron walks over and hugs his father affectionately before looking at him.

“Keith?”

“Hi Mr. Capellini.”

Vincenzo nods to him with a smile and pats his shoulder before leading him to the back.

“You here for the books?”

“Yeah. Tommy here told me there were some issues with the books from last month.”

“Yeah just with the girls.”

Tony nods and follows the older man into the backroom staring at the old memorabilia that litters the walls. Vincenzo hands Tony a paper statement, which Tony looks over before glancing at Keith.

“Ah Keith my business genius. What do you see?”

Keith walks over and takes the paper looking over the numbers and frowns at the money they were spending and the money they were getting back.

“We’re in the hole $300,000.”

“Ah what’d I tell you? Business genius, Vincenzo.”

The older man nods and looks at Keith closely. He had always liked the kid even after everyone thought Tony was crazy for adopting him. He wasn’t even Italian, but Vincenzo knew that wasn’t his fault. When Tony first brought Keith home he was a dirty little mess. Had a bruise on his cheek and dirt on his clothing with a look to match the tough exterior. Anyone that looked at him knew that this child had seen some things being in the system, but Keith grew into his role. He knew he didn’t fit in and some of the other capo’s kids made sure he knew it. After a few fights that ended up with the other kids going home with black eyes and bloody noses Tony got the idea for him to grow into this defender role. Keith had the temper but not the disposition for this lifestyle no matter what Tony thought. He was an angry kid but not a violent one, but Vincenzo worried that Tony would soon break that.

“Vincenzo I’m going to start sending Keith to grab the statements from now on.”

“Yes sir.”

Tony looks at Keith and smiles.

“That means I need you to start covering The Club. Clearly we need someone to take care of business down there.”

Keith frowns and looks at Mr. Capellini who seems likes he’s about to protest, but a quick look from Tony stops him. Keith looks back at his dad and then Tommy.

“The club?”

“Mhm.”

 

This was hell. Literal hell. Lance groans and flops onto his back and turns slightly to look at Pidge and Hunk who talk out the aspects of their project and figure out a company to analyze. He grabs his phone and goes through every social media account he has until he catches sight of the number on his hand. Lance internally battles with texting Keith and seeing what he’s doing all the while hiding his curiosity with questions about the project. 

“…Fuck it.”

He quickly types the number into his phone and texts a simple “hey it’s Lance” to Keith. He places the phone on his chest and closes his eyes listening to Pidge talk about something making Hunk laugh amiably. The vibration in his chest makes his eyes shoot open and he can’t stop the smile from spreading across his face when he sees who had responded. He rolls onto his stomach so he can text better without the fear of it falling on his face. Keith had responded with a simple “Hey” but it was more than enough. Quickly typing back “What’re you up to?” leaves him in suspense and gives him the chance to guess what he was doing. Maybe he was still in that huge car, or at home…what did Keith’s room look like? 

On the other side of town Keith looks around the huge house he had just entered and then back at his phone. “What’re you up to?” stares at him from his smashed phone and he honestly doesn’t know what to say. A few scantily clad women walk in front of him and shoot him a sexy smile as they make their way over to a few customers. Tony smiles at the scene and looks down at Keith.

“Welcome to The Club.”

Keith looks up at him shakily and then back at the women. What was he up to indeed?


	3. You're weird...I like you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Hope y'alls weeks have been great, and if you're in school hopefully it isn't killing you like it is to me. Here's the newest chapter :) Let me know what you think!

It takes him a while to snap out of his shock before turning fully to his father motioning towards the whole room.

“This? This is what you want me to be in charge of?”

Tony nods with a shrug before walking further into the house with Tommy right behind him. Tommy offers a sympathetic smile and a pat on the back leaving him alone in the foyer of the brothel as they walk to the back of the house. Keith continues to take the place in and winces at the use of his favorite color littering the walls. The seats are red, the carpets are red, and he could only imagine that the color scheme continued into the bedrooms the girls are taking their clients into.

“Hey hot stuff. Where have they been hiding you?”

Keith jumps at the hand that grabs his ass and turns around angrily ready to hit whoever had done that. He looks at the aging older man and raises a brow at his creepy stare.

“I’m going to assume you didn’t actually mean to touch my ass and you’re just going to carry on with whatever it is you’re doing here.”

The older man eyes him over and Keith has to keep himself from shivering under his gaze. He was going to need a shower after this.

“Ooh you’re feisty. I’m willing to pay extra for that.”

Keith’s face contorts in disgust but before he can do anything a girl walks over and smiles at the man while running a hand up his arm.

“Mr. Allen the women you want are over there. His services are absolutely not for sale. You’re lucky you’re walking away with all your teeth.”

She smiles at him with a sickly sweetness and casually turns to Keith.

“Mr. Galucci? Tony’s son?”

The man pales at the name recognition and all but runs away from the two of them making Keith roll his eyes as he watches him go. When he turns back to her the brunette woman is staring at him with a look that confuses Keith but doesn’t look menacing. 

“How do you know who I am?”

She raises a brow and shrugs as she walks off to a room in the back. Keith glances around the red room once more before deciding to follow after her when more people give him a look. He stuffs his hands into his suit pockets and glances at the different rooms as he walks to the back. A few times he catches sight of something and his ears redden from his embarrassment. Why the hell would his dad think this is something he’d want to be in charge of? 

“You coming in?”

Keith looks to his right and the brunette woman from before looks up at him with a smile and a raised brow. Keith slowly walks into the room and she motions to the seat in front of her desk.

“Sit.”

Keith does as she says and organizes a few papers before walking around the desk and shutting the door. Keith watches her go and instantly notices her pretty modest dress and tall heels. She eyes him carefully before sitting on the edge on the desk giving him a flash of her thigh high stocking and the garter belt underneath. She eyes him closely as he looks away and up at her face. Interesting.

“…Tony told me you’re going to take over.”

“Oh yeah? And what did my dad say I was going to be doing here?”

She sighs and shrugs.

“Keeping the books together and taking care of any issues we may have with the customers.”

Keith thinks that over and lets an impassive look fall onto his face making Nyma tilt her head slightly. Most men would be thrilled to have been given this position…it wasn’t exactly hard and the girls weren’t bad to look at either. The only problems they’ve had in the past were the men that have been assigned letting them “test” the girls out, but he didn’t even look at the woman in the foyer with more than a glance and has been avoiding eye contact with her thigh this entire time.

“Who are you?”

With a practiced move of her head her silky brown hair slides back giving him a view of her collarbone and the top of her cleavage.

“My name is Nyma. I run the brothel here.”

Keith nods and crosses his arms across his chest as he stares up at her. Nyma smirks slightly and eyes him trying to size him up.

“You’re in school right? Tony keeps boasting about some genius of a son he has, so I looked into you.”

Keith’s eyes narrow at that news and she nods before reaching behind her and grabbing a folder. She glances at him and opens the folder looking at his picture and his long list of offenses.

“Fighting, assault, being kicked out of three schools for fighting and insubordination?”

Keith’s hands clench and she smirks slightly at him knowing this was a sore subject. She closes the folder and leans onto her crossed leg with a smirk.

“Of course all of those charges were dropped but still.”

Keith looks up her angrily.

“Where’d you get that?”

“We have friends at the Police station.”

Keith nods trying to calm himself down. She was baiting him and he knew that but still, it hurt hearing all the things that he tried to leave in his past. Nyma watches all the emotions pass across his face but is surprised when it settles on regret.

“…so what do you care? I’m sure every other guy in here has a sheet longer than that.”

“The last guy left here with a broken clavicle because he hit one of my girls…do I have to worry about you doing the same thing?”

Keith looks at her clearly offended and she smirks.

“By the expression on your face, I’m guessing I don’t. I just needed to make sure you knew that I protect them. That’s my job and I don’t care whose son you are, I will kick your ass if you lay one finger on them.”

He nods understandingly. She had clearly seen some shit and her over protectiveness was proof of that.

“I bet you can.”

Keith offers her a small smile and goes to stand but Nyma taps him with her foot forcing him back into the chair. He raises a brow at her and she smiles slightly.

“Just one more thing.”

She stands and slips into his lap easily perfected from her many years of service he assumes. Keith leans back uncomfortably and she smirks down at him while running a hand over his chest.

“What-“

His eyes widen when she kisses him hard on the lips. Her hand tangles into his hair keeping him still and she grabs his other hand and places it on her hip. Her lips move over his but he’s in shock and goes to push her off but her hand roaming down his chest stops him. This was too much and so, so, wrong. He knew she was beautiful and tons of men would kill to be with her but-

“Wow. I guess I really don’t have anything to worry about.”

He looks up at her face and then down at his crotch where she’s staring. She sits back on his lap and looks at him closely. Keith looks panicked for a moment and she chuckles.

“I wonder what daddy Galucci would say if he knew his son was gay.”

Keith’s eyes widen and he stands up quickly forcing her to her feet. He looks at her seriously and she steps back only to hit the edge of the desk. Keith runs a hand through his hair and looks wildly around the room making sure that there weren’t any cameras or two-way mirrors. She watches the panic on his face and almost starts to feel bad, but he looks at her quickly and she remembers that her gun was on the other side of the room if he chose to attack her. He lets out a shaky sigh and looks up at her making her brow furrow.

“Please. You can’t tell him. You can’t tell anyone. “

Nyma raises a brow and crosses her arms.

“And why shouldn’t I?”

Keith gives her a look that tears at her heart and her tough façade almost melts, but she keeps it up at the last second.

“He’ll kill me.”

“…no he wouldn’t-“

Keith shakes his head and lets out a humorless laugh.

“I’m adopted, I’m not Italian, and I’m gay. Most of the guys wouldn’t need more than ‘I’m not Italian to kill me.”

She stares at him but the door opening makes them both jump. She eyes the door and leans forward to kiss him again forcing Keith against her. Tony walks in and chuckles at the sight before him.

“Oh well pardon me, didn’t realize I was walking in on something.”

Nyma pulls away from him and smiles silkily at Tony.

“Oh sorry, just getting Keith acquainted to the establishment.”

She eyes Keith before slipping away from him and walking over to Tony.

“I let him know the different duties he’d have…you got a good looking kid Tony.”

Tony smiles over at Keith and nods.

“Yeah I picked a good one. Let’s go Keith.”

Keith looks between the two of them before nodding quickly and walking towards the door. Nyma crosses her arms and leans against the doorframe watching them leave. As Keith is about to pass her he stops and turns making her stand up a little straighter.

“…thank you.”

Nyma continues to stare at him before sighing and softening her look.

“I know what it’s like being forced into something you have no business doing…protect my girls, and I’ll protect you.”

Keith nods and offers her a small sympathetic look before following his dad and Tommy to the car parked outside. Nyma watches them go with a sad smile.

“…poor kid.”

 

Lance stares at his phone and frowns.

“I’m a cute guy.”

Hunk and Pidge look over at him before sharing a look and putting their stuff down.

“…yes. Yes you are Lance, but why are we talking about it?”

Lance sighs dramatically and rolls over onto his stomach to glare at his phone some more. Hunk sighs and smirks slightly.

“Does this have anything to do with a certain mullet haired boy?”

Lance looks over at Hunk and lets out another long exaggerated sigh. Pidge watches him and smirks slightly.

“…he who shall not be named.”

“Exactly. Thank you Pidge.”

Pidge nods to Lance with a serious expresison making Hunk groan.

“Did you text him?”

Lance looks over at him trying to mask his feelings and shrugs.

“…maybe.”

“Lance.”

Lance groans and dramatically sighs and looks at him. 

“Ughhhhh okay, yes I did.”

Hunk waits for more but doesn’t get anything from Lance.

“Lance, and then what?”

Lance groans and slides the phone across the carpet letting Hunk see the mess that is his life. Hunk picks up the phone and smiles before tossing it back.

“You’re so impatient. He just texted you.”

Lance sits up at that news and quickly grabs his phone to check the message. Running some errands. You? Lance smiles and his fingers glide over the keyboard stealing a glance at the other two. Hunk and Pidge went back to working on their projects so Lance takes the alone time to pretend he’s studying.

Lance: Working on our project.

Keith: Are you really?

Lance:…I thought about it.

Keith smiles at his phone before locking the door to the pool house and wandering upstairs. After the afternoon he just had it was nice to talk to someone who was an outsider in his life…it also helped that he thought Lance was so cute. Keith blushes at that and groans thinking back to what Nyma had put him through this afternoon and heads to his room to change out of his suit and into sweatpants and a baggy sweater. 

Keith: When are you free to go over the project?

Lance: Anytime.

Keith raises a brow with a chuckle when he sees the bubble popping up signaling Lance is typing again.

Lance: Well not anytime…because I have plans and stuff, you know like a normal person.

Keith actually lets out a laugh at his attempt to sound cool but instead just comes across as cute. He grabs his phone and bag as he heads up the stairs to the furnished roof. Some nights when it was really clear he could see a couple of stars, but usually he came up to stare at the other houses. I wonder if Lance likes the stars? Keith frowns at that thought and tries to remind himself no matter how much he liked Lance it couldn’t work out. 

Keith: I’m free Thursday night. 

Lance: Okay…but the library is closed.

Keith: Oh. Right.

Lance laughs to himself making Hunk smile as he explains something to Pidge.

“How soon is too soon to invite the guy you like over for dinner?”

Pidge looks at him and shrugs.

“Meeting the parents on the first date? Risky move.”

Lance pretends to think it over before typing back making her laugh.

“You asked him to dinner.”

“I asked him to dinner.”

Keith stares at the message trying to figure out what to do. 

Lance: Want to come over for dinner and we can study?

After staring at his phone for more than a minute Keith slowly texts back.

Keith:…um sure?

Lance: Sweet. You’re not allergic to anything right?

Keith: Not that I know of.

Lance: Well let’s hope Thursday isn’t the day we find out. 

Keith chuckles and rolls his eyes at this adorable kid. Ugh this is bad. 

Keith: You live with your parents?

Lance feels slightly self-conscious at that question and rolls over onto his back.

Lance: Um yeah I do.

Keith: Cool. I live in the pool house.

Lance: You live in a pool house? Like with the pool floaties? Do you sleep with pool floaties?

Keith rolls his eyes and curls up further in his seat trying to block out the cold air.

Keith: Yeah we’re best friends.

Lance: I knew it.

Keith: That’s why I have to hide on my roof, so they don’t see me texting someone  
else.

Lance: Am I the home wrecker? 

Keith: Sorry. This isn’t how I wanted you to find out.

Lance: Damn. I’m going to need a minute.

Keith pauses and stares out at the city enjoying the lights penetrating the darkness from the sky. 

Lance: Okay I’m better. I’m ready to be the home wrecker.

Keith: Oh yeah?

Lance: You’ll find out Thursday.

Keith’s ears heat up as he blushes and sighs trying to keep the smile off his face.

Keith: I guess I will. Night.

Lance: Night.

Keith gently holds the phone to his chest with a smile not knowing that Lance was doing the same thing on the other side of the city.

 

The next couple of days fly bye, making Keith more and more anxious. When he gets to class Thursday afternoon he tries his best to seem calm and collected as he walks up the lecture room stairs. 

“Keith!”

Keith looks up and is greeted by a waving Hunk. Lance looks at his friend with a familiar red tint across his cheeks and an expression that screams murder. Pidge laughs at Lance before smiling at Keith.

“Come sit with us.”

Keith pauses thinking about how similar this felt to being asked to sit at the cool kids table in elementary school. He slowly makes his way up the stairs to them and puts his bag on the chair to his left and slowly sits right beside Lance. Neither one of them looks at each other for a bit until they both slowly glance at each other and catch each other’s eyes. Lance stiffens and smiles brightly hiding his discomfort.

“So, how has your day been?”

Keith stares at him owlishly before shrugging with a small smile.

“Good? It’s only noon. I’ve been awake for like an hour.”

“Oh.”

Keith smiles slightly and unpacks his notebook and a pen getting ready for the class. Lance follows suit and bites his lip as he doodles trying to distract himself from how close he is to Keith. He swore he was going to kill Hunk after this. Keith accidentally nudges him and Lance whips his head to look at him. The black haired boy raises a brow and continues to shrug his jacket off.

“Sorry. Warmer today than I thought it was going to be.”

“Uh yeah no problem…who would have thought it’d be 85 at the end of August.”

“Yeah it’s weird. Global warming or some shit you know?”

Lance nods.

“Probably aliens.”

“Definitely aliens.”

Lance and Keith both laugh together until Dr. Stryker comes in and places his bag on the desk in the front. He scans the audience looking at the young faces before shrugging.

“Get with your partners. Today is going to be a team day. You can either work here or somewhere else, but there’s no lecture. I’ll be in my office if you have questions and you can reach me by email. Have a nice day.”

With that he grabs his bag and disappears from the room. Keith and Lance both stare at the desk before glancing at each other.

“Um.”

“Should we…”

Lance jabs his finger towards the door and Keith nods slightly. 

“Oh uh yeah. Okay let’s go.”

Keith slowly throws his stuff into his bag and slings it over his shoulder before following Lance with his jacket in his hand. Lance looks at Hunk for help who just smiles and shrugs. Lance shoots his a glare before leading them out of the room. Keith walks in step beside him but doesn’t say anything until they’re outside. Lance clasps his hands behind his head and looks down at Keith who he just noticed is a few inches shorter than him. 

“So.”

“We could go to my house?”

Keith blinks up at Lance who smiles slightly down at him hiding his nervousness. 

“Uh yeah sure. I can drive.”

“Oh sweet. Lead the way.”

Lance turns to walk to the cars but Keith gently grabs his arm and turns him in the other direction. Keith looks up at him and slowly lets go of his arm to lead him to the parking spot. 

“Keith I don’t know if you know but the cars are in the other direction.”

“I know.”

Lance looks confused but quickly understands when he sees the row of motorcycles. 

“Uh-“

Keith looks at him with a small smile and grabs his helmet from his bag and hands it to Lance. The taller teen looks at the object before shaking his head.

“No.”

“No?”

Lance looks at Keith who tries to keep the smile off his face. Lance looked so concerned and if it wasn’t just the cutest thing he’d ever seen. 

“Have you ever been on a bike before?”

“Um no. I prefer to stay alive.”

Keith lets out a loud laugh and crosses his arms.

“I rode this here and I like to think I’m pretty alive.”

Lance looks at Keith and shakes his head.

“Nah you’re dead.”

“Well then you might as well join me.”

Keith taps the helmet and hops onto the bike pushing it back out of its spot. Lance looks at the helmet one more time before groaning and walking over to him. He looks at the back of the seat where he assumes he’d be sitting and then at Keith who slightly smiles at him.

“How do I…”

“Hop on the back and hold on.”

Lance puts the helmet on and gingerly straddles the bike and looks at how close their bodies were.

“Lance.”

“Ah! What?”

Keith chuckles and nudges him.

“You have to hold on otherwise you really will be dead.”

Lance looks at Keith’s waist like it’s the most dangerous object in the world. There was no way he was holding onto that shit. Keith rolls his eyes and grabs Lance’s hands for him and wraps them around his waist. Lance tests out the feeling and blushes when he feels the hard planes of Keith’s abdomen. Man this kid must work out.

“Hold on.”

“Wha-“

Keith revs the engine and speeds out of the parking lot making Lance yell and hold onto him even tighter. He bends his head so his face is hidden from the air and he tries to calm himself down. Keith laughs slightly at his initial reaction and slows down so he’s following the speed limit. Lance’s arms don’t loosen but Keith can feel his head lifting so he’s looking at his surroundings.

“Where am I going?”

“…make a right. Slowly!

Keith laughs and nods taking the next right. He continues to follow Lance’s directions until he pulls up in front of a large blue house with a small front yard. Lance quickly hops off and pulls the helmet off his head and shakes out his hair. Keith watches him and tries to hide the smile from his face as he puts the kickstand down and follows him. Lance shoots him a bright smile and leads them up the stairs to the front door. Keith looks around as can see some toys littered about and bikes parked next to the house. When Lance walks in Keith hovers in the doorway jumping slightly when Lance suddenly yells.

“Ma!”

“Lance?”

A larger woman with light brown hair walks out in a blue dress with an apron. She smiles when she sees her son and finishes wiping her hands on the towel. Keith carefully walks behind Lance with his hands in his pockets as the taller of the two wraps her in a hug and kisses her cheek. His mom smiles and pushes him away slightly before locking her eyes on Keith. He stiffens but her smile never dims and she nods to him.

“Who’re you?”

“Oh um I’m Keith Kogane ma’am.”

“Nice ta meet ya Keith. You the one that’s comin’ to dinner?”

Keith nods with a smile feeling a little better when he hears her thick Brooklyn accent. She glances back at Lance with a smirk and nods.

“It’s ham, hope you like meat. I’ll be in the kitchen.”

She turns and pats Lance’s cheek affectionately.

“Watch out for your brothers and sisters. Joannie’s kids are here.”

Lance rolls his eyes and nods before looking at Keith and motioning with his head to the stairs. Keith tugs his bag on his shoulders and follows after him. He looks around and can tell the house has a lot of people living in it but in a good way. It was homey and clearly lived in. Lance watches Keith look around and take a second to make sure there wasn’t anything on the walls he should be embarrassed about. 

“Come on.”

Keith looks up at him and nods heading up the stairs. After two floors Keith raises a brow and stops.

“Do you live in a tower?”

“Yep.”

“What the hell? Are you a princess or something?”

“Yep. I’m a princess. It’s an honor I’m inviting you up here.”

Keith smirks and doesn’t respond making Lance laugh to himself. All of a sudden two little blurs run by forcing Keith against the wall. Lance lets out a rush of air as the children latch onto his legs tripping him so he falls into his hands with his butt in the air.

“Max! Jenni!”

Lance looks back at them from the downward dog position to see them smiling at him.

“Hi Uncle Lance!”

“Come play with us!”

Lance eyes the twins before heaving himself back to a standing position. He glances at Keith before wiggling free of their grasp.

“I can’t twinsies. I have homework with Keith.”

The twins turn on Keith and he has a flashback to the twins in The Shining.

“Keith?”

“Who’re you?”

Keith smiles uncomfortably at them and looks at Lance for help but he just shrugs and stuffs his hands in his pockets getting ready for the show.

“Um, I’m Keith.”

The little black haired girl looks at him with a straight expression and glances at her brother who shrugs. They were scarily similar. They had the same black hair, green eyes, and have red sweaters on with jeans. Creepy.

“…you’re cute.”

“Very cute.”

Keith looks at both of them and runs a hand through his hair blushing at them.

“Oh um thanks?”

“Why is your face red? Are you hot?”

Jenni pulls on Keith’s hand with a surprising amount of force making him bend down so he’s face to face with her. Her little hands latch onto his cheeks and she leans forward to place her cheek onto his. He doesn’t dare move until she hums and lets him go.

“You’re weird. I like you.”

“We like you.”

Max nods to his sisters before they sprint off down the hall and down the stairs. Keith slowly stands up and looks at Lance who is trying to hide his laughter behind a hand but is failing miserably.

“…shut up.”

Lance just shrugs and wipes away a tear from his eye.

“Your face was priceless.”

Keith rolls his eyes but his blush stays in place. Lance finally takes pity on him and leads him up the last flight to his bedroom. Lance opens the door and walks in letting Keith follow after him. Lance motions around with a smile before sitting on his bed.

“So uh this is it.”

Keith looks around and takes in the room. There was a large bed in the middle of the room with a desk on the left side that is covered in clothes and books. On the other side of the room is a closet with a poster of something on it.

“Wow.”

“Sorry it’s a little messy.”

Keith shakes his head and slowly walks into the room to set his bag down on the bed. Lance watches him as Keith takes in the room like he’d never seen another person’s room in his life. He focuses on the posters and paintings on the walls before locking on the windows in the far corner.

“What’s that?”

Lance looks where he’s pointing and smiles as he stands up to walk to the balcony door. 

“It’s the fire escape and the balcony.”

Keith follows after him and smiles as he steps out in the sun. Lance leans against the balcony with his arms crossed watching Keith out of the corner of his eye. Keith looks down at the backyard and instantly notices the garden and grilling area with a fire pit in the middle. Keith smiles slightly and looks out at the skyline trying to pick out his house. He was almost sure that if he looked hard enough he could see his own home.

“…wow.”

Lance nods and looks over at him enjoying his happy expression.

“Awesome right? I got the room after Joannie left but the view is amazing.”

Keith looks at him quizzically and Keith smiles slightly. 

“Joannie is my oldest sister.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

Lance pauses and he honestly has to think about it. Keith raises a brow and looks at him in disbelief.

“You don’t know? How could you not know?”

Lance laughs and shrugs.

“We have a lot of kids running around here. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out if they’re cousins or siblings or just neighbor kids.”

The look on Keith’s face forces Lance to crack his facade and shake his head.

“I’m kidding. I have 6 siblings and I’m the youngest. Those were Joannie’s kids that harassed you in the hallway. She works at the hospital so my mom babysits when she has afternoon shifts.”

“Nurse?”

“Pediatric surgeon.”

Keith lets out a low whistle and nods to him.

“Wow that’s really impressive.”

“She knows.”

Keith laughs making Lance smile even wider. There was just something about his laugh that was refreshing to him. Whenever Lance was able to get it out of him, it sounded like whenever Keith let it out it was the first time in years. 

“Alright we should probably start working on the project right?”

Lance shrugs.

“I guess.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed.”

Lance rolls his eyes with a smile and ushers the mullet boy back into his room.

 

~3 hours later~

Lance rolls onto his back and lets out a lengthy sigh making Keith smirk.

“What’re you doing?”

“Dying.”

Keith nods and continues to work on the ratio formulas.

“…we need to pick a company.”

“Oh my gosh. A voice from the other side just spoke to me.”

Lance looks at him less than amused making Keith smile even wider. Lance rolls back over and ends up beside Keith who tries to stay relaxed, but when his phone vibrates he’s up in a second silently praying to the gods that he got away from touching the warm boy.

“Hello?”

“Keith.”

“…Nyma?”

Lance’s head perks up at the name of a girl and glances up at Keith who locks eyes with him and turns.

“Where are you?”

“I’m out. Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing but I thought you were supposed to come in today.”

“No every other day and maybe some weekends. I have school Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.”

Nyma pauses on the phone and Keith chews his lip worriedly.

“…okay.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah I can handle the week. It’s the weekends I was worried about.”

“I’ll be there.”

Nyma hangs up the phone and Keith just stares at the screen before shrugging and turning back around. Lance had sat up during his call and was looking at his notes trying to pretend he hadn’t heard the whole call. There were so many things running through his head. Who was Nyma? What was he doing those other days? Was Keith dating her?

“Sorry about that.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah fine.’

Lance nods and glances over at Keith who grabs his book and places it back in his lap. Lance tries to keep his curiosity at bay but Keith lightly kicks him after a few seconds.

“Just ask.”

“What?”

Keith smirks over at him making Lance blush slightly. Why did he have to look like that?

“You look like you want to ask something, so just do it.”

Lance’s mind goes blank at Keith’s direct gaze and he shrugs looking away quickly to regain his composure.

“I was just wondering…is Nyma your girlfriend?”

Keith pauses making Lance hold his breath. What is he was straight? What if his crush was already dating someone? Was it serious? Oh no.

“Lance!”

Lance jumps slightly and looks at Keith with wide eyes. Keith raises a brow and shakes his head.

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

Lance blinks at him before nodding.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

The two boys awkwardly sit in silence avoiding each other’s gaze until Keith speaks.

“Do you-do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“I have 9.”

Keith laughs with Lance eventually joining in breaking the awkward tension in the room. 

“One girlfriend is a lot of girlfriends for me…can’t imagine having 9.”

Lance raises a brow at that statement but his mom yelling up to them ends the moment and makes Keith stand up. Lance watches him stretch out his limbs slightly before he turns and smiles down at him. 

“You coming?”

Lance nods and watches him extend his hand to pull him up. Lance looks at it, slowly smiling as he grabs it and is hoisted to his feet easily. Keith smiles up at him making Lance feel weak in the knees, but Keith walks out of the room, letting Lance follow. As they make their way down the stairs Lance can’t help but think about how Keith would handle one boyfriend, specifically him.


	4. We've All Been There...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Hope you've been enjoying it so far. Just a quick warning about the chapter, there is a not so nice word at the end. I don't think it's that bad but you've been warned nonetheless. Let me know your thoughts in a comment :) Enjoy!

Keith must have slipped into the twilight zone somewhere on their way to the living room. This was not how dinner was supposed to go. No family had dinner like this. The entire McClain family had piled into the dining room and managed to fit around the large oval table while Lance’s mom brought bowl after bowl of food out for them to eat. He hadn’t seen this much food since the Outfit had a huge Easter dinner years ago. After saying grace they all pass around the different bowls taking food as they go. Keith stares at the food and is intimidated until someone nudges him and he looks over getting a smile from Lance who hands him a bowl of mashed potatoes. He slowly accepts them and puts some on his plate before daring to speak.

“Is uh, is dinner like this all the time?”

Lance looks around and nods slightly.

“Yeah pretty much. Why? Is dinner not like this at your house?”

Keith thinks about all the times him and his dad had dinner together and it had never included peas being thrown or someone force-feeding him ham. He glanced over at Mrs. McClain and she eyed the ham still on his plate. Keith quickly grabs his utensils and digs into his meal making her nod with a small smile. Lance’s mom was scary when she wanted to be. Lance looks over at him and can feel the tense energy rolling off of him.

“You okay?”

“Hm?”

Lance looks at Keith and smiles sympathetically. His family was a lot to deal with if the person wasn’t used to big family dinners. He glanced around at his three younger siblings, his two cousins, and his mom and realized that this was overwhelming. 

“No I’m-“

“Ma! I’m back!”

Everyone’s eyes turn towards the door as a tall thin woman strides into the room with a younger boy. She nods to the table and the maybe 12-year-old boy drops his backpack and sits beside Mrs. McClain grabbing food quickly. She slips her hair back over her shoulder as she crosses her arms over her chest looking at the dinner table. Keith’s mouth almost falls open. She was gorgeous. The twins rush her and she steps back slightly when they latch themselves onto her legs. Her scary façade breaks as she bends down to hug her children tightly.

“Hey twinsies. Were you good today?”

The two children nod with big smiles and she doesn’t look convinced.

“Were they good today Ma?”

“Practically angels Joannie.”

She raises a brow as they flash her mischievous looks but she kisses their cheeks and stands up.

“Go finish your dinna’.”

“Yes momma.”

Keith continues to stare making Lance frown and rests his hand on his fist. Joannie’s face relaxes back into her intimidating stare as she stands and her eyes quickly find Keith. She looks at him coolly but Lance waves to her.

“Hey Joan. Hey Josh.”

The younger black haired boy nods to him with a mouth full of ham and potatoes. Joannie looks at her son with a scolding look making him swallow and take his elbows off the table. Keith smirks at the interaction but when he notices Joannie’s eyes on him again he pales slightly.

“Who’s your friend Lance?”

Keith looks at Lance for help making him laugh.

“He’s my friend from school. His name’s Keith.”

Joannie raises a brow and slowly steps over to take the empty seat across from Keith at the dinner table. She slowly sits and Keith feels like he’s back at the brothel watching Nyma move. 

“Keith? Keith what?”

“Kogane ma’am.”

She smiles slightly at his usage of ma’am and shakes her head.

“It’s Doctor but you can call me Joannie…so are you Lance’s new boyfriend or just a friend?”

Keith splutters and coughs from choking on his water while Lance just drops his utensils onto his plate making a loud clatter. They all stare at them and Mrs. McClain rolls her eyes.

“Leave your brother alone Joannie.”

“I’m not doing anything. Just getting to know Lance’s new friend.”

Lance glares at her making her laugh and smile at Keith. 

“I’m kidding.”

She takes a bite of her dinner and shares a smirk with Keith before turning to her mom to talk about something. Lance fumes beside Keith and when Keith goes to say something Lance excuses himself from the table and disappears. He stares at where Lance walked through but another person sitting beside him forces his attention back to the table. Looking down at the seat there’s a small little girl who stares up at him and frowns.

“Who are you?”

“That’s Keith, Sophia.”

Sophia looks him over and shrugs before pulling her plate of food closer to her. She picks up her utensils and Keith quirks a brow at her, as he looks her over. Of all the people at this table, Sophia looked the most similar to Lance.

“It’s rude to stare you know.”

Keith stiffens and blushes when the little girl looks up at him. She studies his face as she takes a small bite of her food.

“Sorry.”

“Are you friends with Lance?”

Keith nods and Sophia regards him with an unreadable expression until she reaches up and touches his hair.

“You have long hair.”

Keith lets her pull him down and doesn’t move when she examines his long hair.

“Uh yes.”

“Why?”

Keith blinks and smiles slightly at her bluntness. Definitely related to Lance. 

“It grows this way.”

Sophia doesn’t say anything right away but instead pulls some of her hair over her shoulder and looks at it.

“Mine grows like this but yours looks cooler. Do you think my mom will let me cut mine to look like yours?”

Before Keith can speak Lance’s voice makes them turn around.

“Sophia mom will never let you cut your hair to a style that was popular in the 80’s. Stick with your princess-esque hair.”

Keith looks at him offended but Lance’s teasing smirk makes his annoyance fade away. Sophia huffs at her cousin and continues to eat her dinner.

“You survive while I was gone?”

“Yes. Sophia helped me.”

Lance smiles and leans forward and catch the girls eyes.

“Good job Soph.”

She just throws him a thumbs up to him and goes to grab more potatoes. The rest of the dinner continues with relatively no issues and Sophia talks his ear off the rest of the dinner about the different Disney princesses and the ways all of them stacked up against each other. Nodding at appropriate times and adding his input about Ariel and Belle, the ones he knew best, Sophia is smiling and inviting him to her birthday party this weekend. After they bring their dishes to the sink Lance quickly rushes them back upstairs before Joannie can ask Keith any more questions or embarrass him further. When they’re back upstairs Lance lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding and slumps onto his bed. Keith looks at him and chuckles. Lance sits up slightly and watches Keith sit by his feet.

“What?”

“Your sister is terrifying.”

Lance nods.

“Yeah Joannie is really scary when she wants to be, but I guess it goes with the job.”

“Her job is to scare children?”

Lance laughs making Keith smile.

“No but she does have to deal with children’s parents. Being slightly stern is part of her job and being slightly scary is helpful when she had to deal with us growing up.”

Keith looks at him confused and Lance sighs. He grabs his notebook and a pen before sitting up and sliding to the end of the bed beside Keith. 

“Okay so here’s a crash course into my family.”

Keith laughs and nods looking over his shoulder. Lance draws six stick figures and labels the two on the ends as Joannie and himself.

“Okay so Joannie is the oldest and I’m the youngest. Next up is Isabella. She’s 21 and goes to the performing art school downtown. She’s a ballet dancer. Then there’s Maria. She’s 25 and is Sophia’s mom. She works as a flight attendant for an international airline so she’s gone a lot so my mom takes care of her right now.”

Keith glances at Lance and he smiles sadly.

“Sophia’s dad was killed a few years ago so we help out with her being a single mom”

Keith nods somberly.

“Sorry.”

Lance nods and continues to map out his family on the paper.

“Next there’s Samantha. She lives in Italy with her husband. We don’t talk very much but she’s awesome and has four dogs. Then we have Lauren and Mirana. They’re twins and are both 30…I haven’t seen them in a while but I think they’re both living in Mexico right now running a resort of some kind? I’m not actually sure but I’ll check when their Christmas card comes.”

Keith looks at the list of siblings and smiles slightly. He knew Lance had a big family but when you mapped it out like this it really put things in perspective. Keith stares at the list of women and then Lance making him chuckle.

“What?”

Lance looks at him quizzically and Keith just shakes his head.

“No I’m just realizing that you’re the only boy in your family.”

Lance looks at it and shrugs.

“Yeah besides my dad.”

“Oh you have a dad?”

He makes a face and looks at Keith who blushes slightly as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Um well you know you never mentioned it so I just thought…he…didn’t exist.”

Keith jumps at the loud laugh and watches Lance clutch his stomach as he laughs. After a few minutes of Lance’s laughing Keith hits his thigh and crosses his arms with a huff. Lance smiles and sits up with a shit-eating grin.

“I have a dad. He’s a judge downtown so he’s home late, but he exists.”

Keith nods and Lance nudges him with his shoulder making him smile slightly.

“Do you have a dad?”

Keith pauses and nods eventually. Lance quirks a brow but Keith ignores it. 

“I’m adopted. My mom died when I was really young and then Tony got me from the shelter…he’s my dad.”

Lance frowns at his word association but doesn’t say anything. Keith frowns and falls back into his homework routine that Lance slowly follows suit. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later Keith rolls over and slowly stretches out reaching for his phone. Rubbing his eyes he stares at the messages and laughs at the funny photos Lance sent him late last night. He sighs and stares at the ceiling thinking over everything that had happened the past few days. He and Lance had spent almost every afternoon together after he had done his duties for his dad and he could kill himself for never having the guts to talk to him before this project. Lance was a really fun presence in his life and compared to the serious shit he had to deal with at the brothel and the restaurant, he didn’t know how much he needed a break from his life until he realized how relaxed he was around Lance. Speaking of which, he needed to get up and start getting ready for the birthday party today. Sophia was turning 11 and she had requested that Lance bring “his long haired princess friend” apparently. Sitting up he sends a text to Tommy about needing a ride in an hour and gets up to shower. 

An hour later Keith sits in the front seat next to Tommy and sends a quick text to Lance letting him know he’s on his way. Tommy glances over at Keith and smiles slightly.

“You and this Lance kid good friends?”

Keith looks over at him and shrugs.

“Uh yeah I guess. We’re working together on this project for school and we have to work together a lot.”

Tommy nods and turns onto Lance’s road noticing the way Keith sits up and quietly gets himself ready to leave.

“You gonna need a ride back home?”

“Um yeah if you wouldn’t mind.”

Tommy looks at him making Keith chuckle.

“Yeah, sorry. Your job.”

“I’ll be here. Just text me.”

Keith nods and hops out of the car watching it speed off down the street. He sighs relaxing as he walks up the stairs heading to the front door. Before he can knock, it opens revealing a smiling Lance with glitter and paint on his face. Keith stares at him but Lance pulls him into the house and to the backyard where all the people are mingling. Lance turns to him and motions around happily.

“Welcome to Sophie’s party.”

Keith looks around as a few children run past him with princess dresses on and he looks at Lance whose smile hadn’t dimmed at all.

“Lance this is insane.”

“Yep, and now you have to deal with it too.”

Lance grabs his arm making Keith laugh as he’s pulled around to the food, the games, and then taken to greet Princess Sophia. Keith smiles awkwardly down at the girl sitting on a decorated chair beside her presents.

“Look who came to see you Soph!”

Keith awkwardly waves and smiles nervously. 

“Hey Sophia.”

“Thank you for coming Keith.”

Keith nods to her and she smiles at him as she pulls her hat off revealing a shorter hairstyle.

“I cut my hair!”

Keith’s face falls and Lance laughs nudging him with his elbow.

“She took the kitchen scissors so she could copy your haircut. Isn’t it great?”

Keith’s head shakes and he looks at her seriously.

“Oh. Oh no Sophia. Why?”

She shrugs and puts her hat back on.

“I liked your hair so I copied it. Joannie yelled at me, but it’s my hair.”

Keith raises a brow and Lance just continues laughing.

“Joannie?”

“Oh hello Keith Kogane.”

Keith jumps when a heavy beautifully manicured hand lands on his shoulder. Joannie smiles down at her niece and ruffles Keith’s hair making him look at her. She raises a brow and he pales waiting for her to kill him.

“Hi Joannie.”

“Do you like Sophia’s new haircut? I heard it was inspired by you.”

Keith goes to protest but Joannie laughing stops him and makes him look at Lance for help. Joannie smiles at him and shakes her head.

“Relax Keith. Kids do stupid stuff all the time.”

She smiles at him and winks at Sophia as she walks off. Keith puts hand to his heart and feels like he’s about to pass out. Lance slowly leads him away to a table by the back corner so he doesn’t have to worry about Joannie trying to kill him. Hunk watches Lance put Keith into a chair and smiles sympathetically at him while Pidge just looks confused.

“Whoa what happened to him?”

She leans over and shrugs as she continues to eat the cake. Hunk glances back at her and pats Keith’s shoulder understandingly. Lance smiles and shakes his head.

“Joannie scared him.”

“Oh she loves to do that to new people.”

Lance nods with a small smile as Keith slowly calms down. Realizing he wasn’t alone at the table he looks around and sees Hunk and Pidge staring at him. He awkwardly waves at them and they wave back quickly.

“Joannie huh?”

Keith nods and Hunk sighs.

“It’s her thing man. Don’t worry about it. She does that to all of Lance’s friends.”

“Yeah?”

Pidge shakes her head.

“She didn’t do that to me.”

Hunk rolls his eyes and steals his piece of cake back from the small thief.

“That’s because you’re scary enough on your own.”

Pidge nods knowingly and pulls his cake back so she can continue eating it. Keith watches them and laughs lightly making Lance smile again and join the conversation with the other two. Keith smiles as he watches them interact for a while until Pidge makes Hunk go with her to get more cake. The two boys sit in silence for a bit until Keith gets the courage to speak.

“So uh, are they…?”

Lance makes a face and moves to sit in the chair right next to him making their knees brush. Keith’s breath hitches but Lance doesn’t seem to notice. 

“Are they…what?”

Keith swallows thickly and shrugs.

“Um, together?”

He shakes his head and laughs loudly making Keith blush. He crosses his arms and slouches in his seat brushing heir knees again sending a shock up Keith’s system.

“Well you don’t have to laugh asshole.”

Lance wipes at his eyes and smiles at him before patting his leg good-naturedly. 

“No, they’re not together. Pidge is a couple years younger than us but she’s in the same grade because she’s a genius.”

“Oh cool.”

Lance nods and watches Keith blow his bangs out of his eyes. 

“Wait why? Do you, uh like her?”

Keith’s eyebrows shoot up and he shakes his head quickly.

“No!”

Lance watches his reaction and smirks crossing his arms getting ready to test the water.

“Wait so is she just not your type or…?”

Keith coughs and rubs the back of his neck.

“Uh yeah, you could say that.”

Lance nods with a click of his tongue and leans in merging their legs. Keith leans back slightly but doesn’t stop Lance from testing his personal space.

“Is it because she’s a girl?”

Keith blushes and silently curses himself for not being able to control his stupid face. Lance smirks slightly and moves to stand up gently brushing his knee against Keith’s crotch making him swear. He looks up at Lance flustered and the tan boy smiles down at him knowingly.

“We’ve all been there Keith.”

“Oh yeah? And where’s that?”

Lance leans down to his ear letting his hot breath ghost his ear making Keith hold his shiver at bay.

“I think you know...”

Keith looks up at him and Lance just smirks motioning towards the games.

“Come on. It’s a party so let’s start partying.”

Keith nods to him and hops out of the chair following after him. Lance shoves his hands in his pockets and glances back at him. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later Keith curses at himself in the bathroom and stares at himself in the mirror as he grasps the sink. He stares at his face and wills himself to stop blushing. This was ridiculous. He was a grown ass man and a few touches from another boy should not make him react like this. Keith pauses and looks at his hands. Wait, it wasn’t just a few touches…Lance had been bumping into him all day! Casual touches here and there, leg grazing, oh and the hair touching. Every time he would look at Lance to see if he noticed he would just continue what he was doing like it hadn’t fazed him at all. This wasn’t fair! Keith takes a deep breath and stares at himself again slowly coming to the realization that maybe he wasn’t going to get over this crush…

“Hey Keith I’m going to my room.”

Keith sighs and opens the door, startling Lance.

“Whoa didn’t mean to rush you.”

“You didn’t. Your room?”

Lance nods and motions for him to follow. Hunk and Pidge watch them go up the stairs and Pidge waggles her eyebrows at Hunk making him groan.

“Stop it.”

“You owe me $10.”

Lance throws his bedroom door open and smiles at his space as he turns around catching Keith standing in the doorway. Lance watches him bite on his lip before looking up at locking their sight. 

“Keith what-“

Keith marches into the room and throws the door shut behind him. Lance’s eyes widen but Keith gently grabbing his face and pulling their lips together stops his thought. Keith moves his lips against Lance’s and after a second the initial shock wears off and he closes his eyes and kisses him back. His hands find their way to Keith’s hips and he pulls him flush against him grinding their hips together earning him a moan from Keith’s lips. Lance leans back and takes a deep breath, but neither one of them makes a move to step away from each other. 

“Uh-“

Keith shakes his head and gently holds Lance’s cheek and slides his other hand to the side of his neck rubbing the junction where his jaw and neck meet.

“Shut up.”

Keith leans up and kisses him again making Lance’s eyes flutter shut. He slowly moves them so Keith’s knees hit the back of Lance’s bed and he falls back bringing Lance with him. Keith gently bites Lance’s lip making him groan and kiss down his neck as he straddles Keith. They continue making out like this until Lance slowly sits up and focuses on slowing his rapidly beating heart. Keith stares up at him and takes in Lance’s flushed face, his messed up hair, and his disheveled clothing making him the most beautiful person Keith had ever seen in his life. Lance sits back on Keith’s waist and smiles down at him happily.

“So. I guess it is because Pidge isn’t a girl.”

Keith laughs making Lance join him and they slowly let the silence fill the air again when their laughter tapers off. Lance smiles happily down at him and Keith sits up on his elbows. 

“Wait you have…”

Lance wipes at Keith’s cheek gently before shrugging.

“What is it?”

“You got some glitter and paint on your face.”

Keith gently touches where Lance did and shrugs.

“Oh.”

He swipes the back of his hand over his face but shrugs when nothing comes off. Lance smiles at him and gently plays with his clothing avoiding his gaze.

“Okay so, you like me.”

“Yeah.”

“And I like you.”

“Good.”

Lance nods and rolls off of Keith so he can lie beside him. Keith turns and rests his head on his hand as he looks down at a smiling Lance.

“Are you gay?”

Lance shakes his head.

“I’m bisexual, but I lean more towards boys. I still think women are really amazing though.”

Keith nods and Lance nudges him.

“What about you?”

“I’m gay.”

Lance smiles.

“Awesome. As long as you like boys I’m happy, otherwise we might have to be having a completely different discussion right now.”

Keith laughs and gently leans down to kiss him happily. Lance smiles and stares at him before sitting up on his elbow like Keith.

“…Are you out?”

“What?”

Lance thinks his question over and shrugs.

“Like do your friends and family know you’re gay?”

Keith’s visible tension makes Lance instantly know he asked the wrong question, but Keith’s phone going off sends him rolling off the bed and walking as far from Lance as he could to answer.

“Hello?”

“Keith I’m on my way back to get you. You ready?”

“Uh yeah. I’ll meet you outside.”

Keith hangs up the phone and sighs thinking about everything that had just happened in the past hour.

“…Keith.”

Keith slowly turns and looks at Lance who looks hurt and confused as he sits up on his bed. Keith bites his lip and rubs a hand through his hair. 

“I’m not out…it’s difficult to explain.”

Lance nods slowly as he crosses his legs underneath him and stares at his hands. Keith’s heart tightens in his chest and he sighs as he makes his way back to the bed to stand in front of him.

“Hey.”

Lance slowly looks up at him and Keith gently cups his cheek making him smile slightly.

“Lance, I’m really sorry, but this can’t happen again…and I can’t really explain it to you right now.”

Lance nods slowly and Keith offers him a sad smile.

“If things were different, we’d be together and I would love every minute…but that can’t work right now. Please understand.”

Lance looks up at him and eventually nods.

“Okay.”

“Thank you.”

Lance smiles sadly and stands up heading for the door. He pauses when he grabs the doorknob and looks back at Keith.

“Come on. Your guy is probably waiting for you.”

Keith nods and they both head down the stairs silently heading out the front door together. Keith nods to Tommy when he sees him but pales when he sees his father get out of the passenger side of the car. Lance watches Keith instantly tense up and focuses on Tony as he reaches out and grabs Keith around the shoulders hugging him to his chest.

“Ah there he is…Wait what the fuck is this shit?”

He pushes Keith back slightly to look at his face and wipes at the patches of glitter and paint.

“Ya look like a fuckin’ fairy Keith. What the fuck you doin’?”

Lance’s eyes widen at the slur and he looks at Keith who shrugs his dad off and shoves his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah one of the kids got a little crazy with the face paint. You ready to go?”

Tony nods and glances at Lance passively as he gets back into the car. Keith shares a look with the other boy and he nods understanding what Keith had said upstairs more and more. The Escalade pulls off down the street, leaving Lance to watch his crush drive off with the most openly homophobic man he had ever had the displeasure of meeting.


	5. Pens and Band-Aids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving if you celebrate :) As always please leave a comment if you feel so inclined, but enjoy!

“It was awful guys! I’ve never met someone as terrible as Keith’s father!”

Hunk and Pidge watch Lance storm across her bedroom ranting about Tony and what he had called Keith, ranting about anything and everything. They look at each other clearly overwhelmed but turn back to try and continue listening to him.

“And I swear, Keith was a completely different person in that moment.”

Hunk clears his throat and sits up slightly on Pidge’s bed.

“What do you mean?”

“What?”

Hunk looks at Pidge before shrugging.

“How was he different? Like different how?”

Lance blushes thinking back to the way that Keith grabbed him being the one to initiate the kiss. He was confident in that moment but the Keith that stood in front of his father was anything but. It was like everything that made Keith, Keith was just pulled out of him when his father appeared.

“Lance?”

“Hm?”

Hunk looks at his friend worriedly and Pidge sits silently realizing the seriousness of Lance’s rant. She watches his closely and can see the sadness behind his angry façade and nudges Hunk making him look at him as Lance bites his nails.

“Lance what happened?”

Lance doesn’t meet Hunk’s gaze for a moment but eventually turns and looks at him. The anger is gone and instead worry replaces it as he stares at the ground.

“He kissed me.”

Hunk and Pidge’s mouth fall open and Lance smiles slightly at their happy and confused expressions.

“What! And you’re just telling us now? How have you gone through the past day not telling me!”

Lance winces at Hunk’s tone but just shrugs.

“Sorry?”

“Well tell us what happened next!”

Lance sighs and flops onto Pidge’s bed groaning and covering his eyes.

“He was the best kisser and then he told me we couldn’t be together.”

Hunk nods sympathetically and Pidge watches him sadly.

“Why?”

“He’s not out to his family.”

“So?”

Lance turns his head looking at her pathetically and shrugs.

“If I had his dad I might be a little wary about sticking my tongue in another boy’s mouth too…”

Pidge nods understandingly and gently pats his forehead affectionately.

“It’ll be okay. If it’s meant to be, it’ll be.”

Lance thinks it over and slowly sits up coming up with a plan in his head. Hunk groans and looks at his friend closely trying to figure out what was going through his mind.

“What’re you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying. I can see it on your face…you’re scheming!”

Lance looks at Hunk with a smile and Hunk groans as he stands.

“No! No scheming.”

“Yes scheming! And it’s not so much a scheme when half of my scheme has already played out.”

Pidge looks at them confused and rolls her eyes deciding to go back to her homework. Lance stands up and stretches with a new vigor in his step.

“No, listen, this will be perfect. I like him, he likes me, what’s the issue?”

Hunk looks at him in disbelief and looks for some help from Pidge. She shakes her head and continues her math problems choosing to stay uninvolved in this plan. Hunk sighs and rubs his eyes trying to get his thoughts together.

“Lance, I know you like this guy but maybe this just isn’t the right time?”

“And what is the right time? I can’t wait for every homophobe in the world to die. We’re meant to be together!”

“How do you know that?”

Lance looks at Hunk seriously and rubs the back of his neck.

“Because he said so. He said that if he could we would be together, he would love every second, but that it wasn’t the right time…but it is the right time. It’s always the right time to be with the person you like.”

Hunk sighs at his friend’s optimism and looks at him seriously.

“I don’t want you to get hurt Lance.”

“I won’t.”

Lance smiles at him eventually forcing Hunk to sigh and nod.

“Alright, well good luck man.”

“I don’t need luck, I’m hot.”

Pidge snorts and Lance launches himself at her scattering her books and papers everywhere.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next week Keith sits down next to Lance and slowly unpacks his stuff for class. Lance glances over at him and gently taps his pen on the table waiting for the right moment to speak.

“Hey Lance.”

“Hey. How was the rest of your weekend?”

Keith shrugs and gently rubs his knuckles remembering the many issues he had to deal with at the brothel. Lance watches him and notices the scratches and bruising on his right hand.

“What happened to your hand?”

Keith stares down at it and shrugs eventually. 

“Fell.”

Lance looks at him questioningly but Keith doesn’t offer up ay more information so he doesn’t push. The lecture eventually starts and Keith focuses on following the professor as they go through the PowerPoint’s but every once in a while he would catch himself staring at Lance. Of course the other boy pretended he didn’t know but he could tell he knew…how could he not? They were sitting right next to each other.

“Is there something on my face?”

Keith looks at Lance who smirks slightly down at him. Lance moves so his elbow is on the desk and his head rests casually in his hand. Keith goes to answer but stops and continues to stare when Lance’s other hand moves in front of his face.

“What?”

Keith looks at Lances innocent face and continues to stare at the pen that’s balanced delicately in his fingers. Lance smiles and gently sucks on the tip making Keith go red in the face. His tongue pokes out to touch the cap and Keith almost falls out of his chair.

“Keith?”

“I have to go.”

Keith grabs all of his things and all but runs out of the room.

“Mr. Kogane we’re not done-“

“I know.”

Lance stands slightly and watches sprint out of the room. Hunk and Pidge turn around and look at Lance and he pauses for a second before grabbing his stuff and taking off after Keith. Dr. Stryker glares at Lance who just smiles uncomfortably and turns to continue his hot pursuit of Keith. Heading straight for the bike lot he sees Keith’s red speedster parked in its spot so he heads off to any other place Keith could be. After twenty minutes he finally finds him he’s completely out of breath. He huffs trying to get as much air into his lungs but feels like he’s about to pass out. He pushes the men’s room door open and locks eyes with Keith who looks up at him surprised. Lance steps into the room fully and places his backpack by the door as Keith runs a hand through his hair calming himself down. Lance takes a step closer to him but Keith shoots him a warning glance making him stop.

“Keith what’s going on? You ran out of class!”

“So did you.”

Lance makes a face at his statement. He was right but that wasn’t the point. Keith sighs getting his attention and Lance looks at him sympathetically. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“For the pen thing.”

Keith stares at him trying to process what he’s saying. Lance watches multiple emotions play out across his face until he finally settles on anger. Lance swallows and laughs slightly making his way for the door.

“I’m just going to-“

“Don’t you dare.”

Lance stops and looks at Keith worriedly trying to figure out what he was thinking. Eventually deciding he was too impatient to wait for Keith he takes a step forward trying to appease him. Keith looks at him warily but Lance raises his hands in surrender.

“I come bearing no pens. Don’t worry.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It was funny.”

Keith shrugs but smiles anyway making Lance smile from the cute face he has.

“Keith are you okay?”

“No.”

Lance is surprised at his honesty and looks up in time for Keith to pull him closer and kiss him hard. Lance takes no time to kiss him back and Keith is quickly pushed against the wall with Lance in between his legs. Lance smiles into the kiss and trails his tongue along Keith’s lower lip making him moan quietly but the door knob rattling makes Keith push him back and off of him. Some random boy walks in not paying them any mind and disappears behind the stall. Keith glares at it and grabs his bag and jacket stomping to the door with Lance right behind him.

“Keith come on-“

“Stop Lance.”

Lance rolls his eyes and continues to follow him not even looking over at Hunk and Pidge who stand at the entrance of their lecture hall. Keith angrily storms out the door and heads straight for his bike with the intention of riding off the edge of the world and disappearing from this Earth, because he could simply not exist with the promise of Lance in his life.

“Keith stop!”

Lance grabs Keith’s shoulder and pulls him around with a surprising amount of force. Keith throws his arm up knocking Lance’s hand off his shoulder making the other boy stop. Keith stops walking and groans audibly as he tries to process his feelings. If he could just get a minute to-

“Why are you running away from me?”

Keith doesn’t answer right away and Lance just continues.

“Keith, come on. I’m not a disease. Why did you run out of the bathroom-”?

“Because I need to get away from you!”

Lance stares at him surprised and Keith shakes his head knowing that was the wrong thing to say in this moment but he was so flustered and all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball to process his feelings.

“I just- I can’t-“

Keith groans loudly and grabs his hair thinking of what to say to him. To the boy he’d been crushing on this entire year and whom he had already kissed twice on his own free will. He looks up at Lance for help but his face was just as confused as he felt and it wasn’t helping anything. 

“…we talked about this Lance.”

“I know.”

“Did you not get what I was saying?”

“No, I did.”

With every answer Lance took a step closer to him forcing him back against the brick wall. This was not good, this was in the open and he couldn’t do this with him…not again.

“Lance please.”

Lance sighs and gently tugs Keith’s shirt looking at him sympathetically. 

“I know what you said, and I respected it-“

Keith looks at him sharply and Lance smirks slightly.

“Okay I kind of respected it, but I didn’t like it.”

Keith stares at him and nods slowly.

“I don’t like it either-“

“Okay but that’s the thing. You and I both don’t like it so why don’t we both do something we like?”

He smirks seductively at him and Keith stares at him while biting his lip gently until he remembers where they are and pushing him back slightly.

“Lance, I just-I can’t. I want to, but I can’t…you don’t understand.”

Lance pouts slightly and looks at him impatiently while still being too close to Keith for his comfort in the open.

“Make me understand. I know you’re in the closet and your dad is-“

The mention of his dad has his wall up so fast and Lance can see the shift in his demeanor.

“…I can’t talk to you about this Lance.”

Lance looks confused but Keith just shakes his head and maneuvers around him to get to his bike. Lance doesn’t go after him but part of Keith wishes he would. As he puts his helmet on he glances at Lance who just looks resigned to the whole situation. Keith sighs and gets out of the parking lot as quickly as possible leaving Lance on the curb watching him go. Hunk and Pidge eventually find him and they lead the quiet man to the car and drive him home.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nyma stares at the boy lounging on her couch in her office and rolls her eyes.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s my job Nyma.”

Keith glares over at her and she rolls her eyes as she continues to clean up her desk.

“No, your job is to deal with any problems I have. I don’t have any. Go away.”

“No.”

Nyma stares at him and Keith just closes his eyes and continues to nap on her couch. Waiting a minute she shakes her head and walks over slapping his thigh hard. He goes to yell at her but her look silences him. She eyes him over and eventually rolls her eyes.

“…boy issues?”

“No.”

She simply raises a brow making Keith look away.

“What’s his name?”

Keith sighs and continues to glare at the ceiling. She sits by his feet and waits for him to answer examining the many papers in her lap. She flips through the books from the brothel until Keith shifts slightly.

“…Lance.”

She turns slightly towards him but doesn’t raise her gaze to keep him relaxed.

“What’s he like?”

Keith thinks about Lance and tries to think of a way to accurately describe him but he just ends up shrugging and looks at her. Nyma slowly watches his face relax and light up and nods knowingly.

“Does he like you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what’s the issue?”

Keith looks at her incredulously and she shakes her head.

“No, being in the mob is not an excuse. You don’t get to use that every time there’s something you’re afraid of doing in your life…you’re too young to not have fun.”

“I have fun riding my bike and that doesn’t have the potential of me being killed for my sexual orientation.”

Nyma pauses and sighs making Keith look at her closely.

“Your bike also doesn’t have the potential of loving you and making you incredibly happy.”

“But-“

A stern look from her stops him and she continues.

“This man, Lance, you like him?”

Keith nods.

“You want to be with him?”

Keith nods.

“Then you need to go and get him. Don’t worry about everything else. Finding someone that makes you happy is the greatest gift in the world Keith, and no amount of homophobe’s should ruin that. Take it one step at a time…if he likes you the way you deserve to be liked then he’ll stick it out. All the good ones do.”

Keith sits quietly mulling her words over but Nyma quickly gets up and heads to the door. She lovingly rubs his head and smiles down at him.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome…now get off my couch and go home. 4 days is long enough.”

Keith laughs and she smiles as she disappears somewhere into the brothel. Keith lies there for a few more minutes before checking his phone and seeing an email from Lance about their project. He groans and sits up thinking about everything they had to do to not fail the class. After a few minutes he sends Lance a simple “Hey” text message.

On the other side of town Lance stares at his phone and back up at the blonde boy who smiles down at him.

“You coming?”  
Lance looks at his phone and the other boy looks at him perplexed.

“What? Is that your boyfriend or something?”

Lance pauses and eventually nods.

“Or something…sorry.”

Chad or Chris or whatever blonde boys name was shrugs noncommittally and walks off leaving Lance alone on the couch with a drink in his other hand. Lance slowly texts back trying to continue being angry with him.

Lance: What’s up?

Keith: Got your email.

Lance: Oh good, I’m glad the Internet is working.

Keith: Funny.

Lance: I’ve been known to be funny from time to time.

Keith: Can we talk?

Lance: Why? So you can run away from me again and make me feel like shit?

Keith: I was hoping you could make me feel like shit to make us even.

Lance pauses and rolls his eyes at Keith and tries not to smile.

Lance: When?

Keith: Now. I’ll pick you up.

Lance: I’m at the Mandrake Bar. 

Keith: See you in 10.

Lance sighs and downs the rest of his drink and stares at the people in the bar who’re lit up by the many lights and drowned out by the music. Eventually he makes his way outside and pulls his jacket closer around himself trying to block out the cold weather. So much for it being warm. A large black escalade pulls up in front of him and the window rolls down revealing Keith. Lance doesn’t say anything and gets into the car instantly enjoying the warmth from the heater. Keith glances at him but stays silent as they drive off down the road. Lance stares out the window trying to avoid looking at the stupid boy to his left but eventually starts stealing glance at him.

“Where’re we going?”

“Lucky’s Diner.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re drunk and I’m hungry.”

Lance goes to protest but Keith smiles slightly at him and he blushes making him look away. They continue to drive in silence for 15 more minutes until Keith pulls into the parking lot of a small but homey looking diner. 

“Come one. I’ll buy you some pancakes.”

“Psh I want waffles.”

Keith smiles slightly and nods opening the door for him. Lance finds an empty booth and slides into it and stares out the window at the dark parking lot. Keith slides in across from him and when the waiter comes over he orders for the both of them when Lance doesn’t even turn his head. When the food actually comes out Lance finally diverts his attention away from the window and to the golden waffles in front of him with an obscene amount of whipped cream on top. He quickly dives into them pouring syrup all over them and smiles as he cuts into his food. Keith watches him with a smile and starts eating his pancakes enjoying the buttery goodness.

“Thank you.”

“Mhm.”

Lance stops mid-bite and watches him before leaning forward and stealing a piece of bacon from him. Keith looks mildly affronted but Lance just shrugs.

“I’m still angry remember?”

Keith groans and pushes the plate of bacon across the table to him and smiles slightly as he sips his water.

“So. You disappear for 4 days, text me out of the blue and agree to be berated by me because I think you’re an ass, and then you buy me pancakes and bacon? What’s your game Kogane?”

Keith shrugs and looks at him seriously.

“Wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“…being an ass?”

Lance nods appreciatively and takes another piece of bacon enjoying the taste.

“Forgiven.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I try and hold grudges but I’m not any good at them.”

Keith laughs and smiles at that knowledge.

“Well good.”

“Now rivalries, those I’m good at.”

Keith doesn’t look totally convinced and Lance just shrugs.

“You’ll see.”

He rolls his eyes at the ominous warning and continues to eat his large meal. Lance follows suit and they eventually fall into a comfortable silence stealing glances at each other. Keith pays the bill and they’re on their way back towards Lance’s house. As they make their way through the dark streets Lance continually steals glances at him growing more and more frustrated as the minutes pass.

“What?”

Keith looks at him slightly bemused and Lance just shrugs avoiding his gaze.

“Just, I don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“Just…why?”

Keith just shakes his head and looks at him closely when they stop at a red light. Lance sighs and shrugs making Keith laugh.

“Okay.”

“Why are you still with him?”

Keith shoots Lance a questioning look but Lance has decided with the last amount of alcohol he has flowing through his veins this was a good time to throw everything into the air.

“Why do you stay with him?”

“Who is this him?”

“Tony.”

Keith looks at him sharply and quickly pulls the car over when he sees that Lance is going to continue his angry tirade. Lance shuffles and takes his seatbelt off to turn fully to Keith who sighs as he puts the car into park. Lance watches Keith’s face as he turns to him but doesn’t see any sign of anger so he continue.

“He’s clearly a major homophobe Keith and you’re gay! How are you okay with this? I don’t know how you could live in that man’s house-“

“My dad’s house.”

“Ye- what?”

Lance stops and stares at Keith who just shrugs.

“It’s my dad’s house. I live in my dad’s house. Not mine.”

“Okay but-“

“But what Lance? Not everyone is as accepting as your family is. Not everyone can afford the luxury or being out and supported like you are.”

Lance’s mouth opens and closes multiple times as he struggles to figure out what to say but Keith just shrugs. He wasn’t angry, far from it actually. 

“Lance I get it, okay. It’s frustrating but it’s not just my dad that is the issue.”

“Then what is? Help me understand, because I like you and not just in the way I normally do with hot guys, but in the way that I want to get to know you and find out what your room looks like, and maybe why you are always in large black vehicles.”

Keith smirks as Lance kicks at the center console of the Escalade as he crosses his arms angrily. He looked so cute.

“Hey, the vehicle didn’t do anything to you.”

“Shut up, it did too. It exists.”

Keith laughs and Lance fights to keep his anger in the foreground of his mind. Eventually it starts to dissipate when he sees Keith staring at him happily.

“What? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“Because I also like you.”

“Oh…well, good.”

Keith nods and smiles as Lance’s face grows redder every second. He glances at Keith again and eventually just drops his arms and slips down into his seat resigned.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ve decided I’m ready for this.”

Lance looks up at Keith who just pats his steering wheel as he stares out the windshield.

“Keith?”

“…I have lots of space stuff in my room.”

“What?”

Keith looks down at him as he stops his strumming and nods.

“Like model rockets and planets…even have galaxy posters and shit like that. I love space. Wanted to be an astronaut or a pilot when I was younger.”

Lance sits up at that knowledge and smiles slightly worried if he said anything Keith would suddenly clam up again. 

“Had the application for flight school since I was 11.”

Keith smiles at the memory and Lance revels in the bright-unhinged happiness that appears on his face. Keith smiles down at the steering wheel remembering when he first figured out what he wanted to be. 

“What stopped you from applying?”

Keith shrugs and grips the wheel tightly.

“Life I guess.”

“Life? It’s not to late you know-“

“Having a record kind of stops me from doing a lot of things Lance.”

Lance watches as the normal passive façade appears back on his face concerning him and realizing this honesty session was about to come to an end.

“Keith I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

Keith grits his teeth and shrugs.

“Maybe. Being the son of a known capo in the Mafia kind of limits more of my life than anything else.”

Keith watches Lance’s face twist in confusion and he slumps back down in his seat not saying anything. Keith stares at him but Lance just stares out the window not revealing his feelings at all. This was definitely not the right way to tell him, Keith knew that, but this was the only way that he knew he could get it out without backing down, and if Lance was going to pursue him then he needed to be aware of all the shit in his life so might as well rip the mob band aid off first. After a few minutes of silence Lance mumbles something forcing Keith to look back at him.

“What?”

“…please take me home.”

Keith nods slowly and pulls back onto the street and they both drive silently home. When Keith stops the car in front of Lance’s home he silently sits up and goes for the door handle but pauses before he can step out. Keith stares at the back of his head and looks at him sadly.

“Lance-“

“I’ll see you Monday.”

Keith sighs and nods watching him slip out of the car and disappear up the steps into his home. He sits in his SUV staring at his hands grip the steering wheel before sighing and pulling off to head back home.


	6. What the hell is a capo anyways?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the chapter and if you do leave me a comment or something. There's some Spanish towards the end and I had to use google translate so if it's wrong I'm sorry (I only took Latin in school). Have a happy and safe holiday everyone!

“McClain! Get your ass in gear!”

Lance pops his head up from the water and looks at his coach passively as he bobs at the end of the lane. The older woman motions at the other swimmers letting him know she hadn’t told him to stop, making him sigh as he pushes off the wall and starts his laps again. Closing his eyes as he makes his way down the pool he knows he’s not interested in practice this morning and clearly it showed by his less than speedy performance. Flipping over and pushing back off the wall to head back down the pool he lets the air out of his mouth and watches the bubbles pool around his face. Fuck Keith. He was the reason he was doing so badly this morning. Stupid Keith with his stupid hair and his stupid illegal activities-

“Lance.”

A hand waving at the end of the pool in the water makes him stop his lap and hang off the diving block looking up at his coach who is less than amused. The sounds of the other swimmers hands and feet slapping the water forces him to focus back on where he was.

“What is going on?”

Lance glances at his hands holding onto the backstroke bar and shrugs. His coach looks down at him from her spot next to the diving block and looks less than amused.

“Hm?”

The older woman rolls her eyes and Lance stares down at the water watching his feet casually kick keeping himself afloat.

“Hit the showers.”

That makes his head whip up and he’s instantly indignant. He wasn’t swimming his best but he wasn’t doing badly either.

“What?”

“If your head isn’t in the game then get out of the pool. You’re no good to me or yourself distracted.”

She shrugs and stands up letting her eyes watch the other swimmers complete their laps. Lance angrily splashes the water and pulls himself up and storms off to the shower. He quickly dries off and throws his warm clothes on and all but runs out of the natatorium. His hands are in his pockets and his hood’s up with his headphones in as he makes his way down the road to his house angrily kicking rocks on the sidewalk sending them flying. What the hell was a capo anyways? If he was going to endure this cold walk home at fucking six in the morning he might as well spend it directing his annoyance into something useful…like hating Keith. His thumbs tap the screen of his phone and he looks up everything he can about the mob. Swiping through the photos he can see the general structure and the wiki page gives him a basic understanding of the situation. 

“Family, money, power. Got it.”

Lance stares at his phone and groans before dialing a number and waiting for the beep of the answering machine. Tapping his fingers impatiently against his thigh as he walks he lets out an exasperated sigh when the ringing finally stops and the voicemail starts.

“I got kicked out of swim practice because of you and your stupid information dump the other day. What the fuck is a capo anyways mullet head? I am holding you responsible for everything wrong in my life from this moment forward, and if I don’t qualify at the meet next month I will hate you…good morning!”

He hangs up the phone in a huff and angrily walks home kicking any rock he sees imagining them to be Keith’s stupid perfect head. He finally reaches home when the sun is steadily making its way on the horizon and as he crosses the threshold of his home his phone goes off. Checking the caller ID he angrily answers it as he drops his gym bag by the door.

“What?”

“Why are you calling me at 6:17 in the morning?”

“I had complaints.”

Keith huffs and ties his shoe as he slowly gets up off his bed.

“Is it cold out?”

“Is it- what?”

Lance stops on the stairs and looks around at the absurdity of the question.

“Is. It. Cold. Out?”

Lance has a moment where he doesn’t understand what he’s asking but Keith continues talking distracting him.

“From the chattering of your teeth in your message I’m guessing it is.”

Lance rolls his eyes angrily. 

“Why do you care?”

“I’m going for a run. Need to know how many layers to wear.”

His mind instantly wanders to Keith in short shorts and a nonexistent top but he quickly squashes that idea by stomping up his stairs.

“You should wear nothing and get the flu because that’s what you deserve. “

“That’s mean Lance…why are you stomping?”

“I’m not.”

Keith laughs and Lance decides that was the most annoying quality about Keith. He’d better start keeping a list of all the things he hated…like what he sounded like in the morning.

“I can hear you. Those stairs do not deserve your clown feet assaulting them like that.”

Lance’s indignant huff makes Keith smile as he stretches out a little more.

“Don’t fall asleep.”

“Why?”

“I run by your house sometimes. I’ll see you in a bit.”

The Cuban boy shuts his bedroom door and flops onto his bed quietly enjoying Keith’s voice and the way he can tell he’s getting ready for actual physical work. Nope, not enjoying, hating. He added that to the list. 

“You can’t come in.”

“Yes I can. Bye Lance.”

“I’m not unlocking my door.”

“Who says I need you to? See you soon princess.”

“I’m not-!”

Lance stares at his phone when the line goes dead and he just crosses his arms over his chest willing himself to stay on the bed and ignore Keith. So what if he ran by his house? What did that matter to him? It didn’t. Keith could freeze to death on his fire escape for all he cared. Lance sits on his bed for a few more minutes before slowly craning his head back to look at the door that leads him to the outside, and with a heavy sigh he slips off his bed and unlocks the door before he walks to the shower. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith hops the fence leading to Lance’s backyard easily and smiles as he looks up at the fire escape. He pulls the ladder down and slowly makes his way up to Lance’s room groaning when his tired muscles protest slightly. When he tries the door his heart stops when he feels the resistance but he tries it again and it opens easily letting Keith into his room. Taking a quick look around he doesn’t see Lance but steps in further shutting the door behind him enjoying the warmth. As he walks further into the room he looks at the wall décor again enjoying the many pictures of Lance smiling and sharing times with his friends. A door opening behind him makes him whirl around and reach for his pocket where a knife is stashed but Lance rubs a towel on his head and looks at him closely.

“So. You actually came over.”

He drops the knife and pulls his hand from his pocket. 

“Of course.”

Lance eyes him and has to remind himself to breathe when he takes in his appearance. Who the hell said Keith was allowed to put his stupid mullet into a ponytail? He looked ridiculous…ridiculously hot. He hated him. The ponytail got added to the list. He flicks his eyes to the ground and nods.

“…your hair looks dumb.”

Keith makes a face and gently grabs his ponytail before smirking much to the annoyance of Lance. He rolls his eyes and tightens his towel around his waist heading to the dresser. Keith watches him go and doesn’t even try to hide his ogling. Lance can feel his eyes and a blush starts to creep its way up his neck.

“Stop staring at my butt.”

Keith smirks and notices the way Lance’s shoulders tense and relaxes as he moves. Definitely a swimmer. 

“I’m not. I was staring at your back, but I could be convinced to stare at your butt instead. It is pretty great.”

Lance looks back at him making Keith swallow heavily and take an experimental step forward. Lance doesn’t say anything so Keith continues until he’s right behind Lance. Lance leans heavily onto the dresser and tries to ignore Keith’s presence but a tentative finger runs down his spine making his breath shutter.

“Keith-“

“A capo is the head of a crew in the mob. He’s right below the underboss.”

Lance snaps his attention back on the task at hand and none to gently butts him so he has to move a few steps back. Lance grabs some underwear and shorts before turning around giving him a pointed look and disappears into his bathroom. Keith rolls his eyes and blows a raspberry as he goes to sit on Lance’s bed.

“Don’t put your sweaty ass on my bed.”

“You want my sweaty ass on your bed.”

Lance pops his head out of the bathroom and glares at Keith who just smiles politely. Lance groans and disappears back into his bathroom but leaves the door slightly ajar letting out some of the hot air that had accumulated from his shower earlier. 

“Why are you here?”

Keith looks down at the mess of blankets and pillows that is Lance’s bed with a smile.

“To see you.”

Lance walks out of the bathroom and looks at him warily as he throws his clothes into the hamper and moves closer to the bed so he’s directly in front of Keith.

“Why?”

Keith smiles up at Lance and the taller boy almost forgets why he was mad earlier. Has Keith always had such a nice smile? He couldn’t remember but he thinks that has something to do with the fact that Keith always had a resting bitch face when he wasn’t scowling or doing his stupid cocked brow thing he did when he was challenging someone or confused. 

“You called me.”

Lance goes to say something but Keith stands up quickly and kisses him once and steps back. Lance stares at him and takes in Keith’s smug expression laced with uncertainty.

“Was that-“

Lance grabs him and pulls him snugly against him winding his hands into his hair. Keith responds immediately and grips Lance’s shoulders and finally notices how broad they are. Sure he wasn’t ripped, but he had a strong lean body that he loved. Lance shifts to get a better hold of Keith and the shorter of the two enjoys feeling the way his muscles shift and move under his fingertips. Lance pauses and looks down at him confused why Keith seemed to have spaced out.

“Um you okay?”

He slowly nods and looks up at him as he rubs a thumb across his cheekbone.

“Sorry I just- you’re real.”

Lance is taken aback and doesn’t know what to say for the first time in his life. Keith laughs at his confused expression and shakes his head making a few pieces of hair fall into his face.

“Sorry.”

“No, uh wow.”

Lance blushes and Keith smiles brightly before leaning in and capturing his lips once more. They continue to make out for a few more minutes before separating but staying close enough to touch.

“Are you tired?”

Lance nods honestly making Keith take a step back but Lance grabs his hand stopping him. Keith looks at their hands and blushes making him smile.

“You’re leaving?”

“Well yeah I-“

“Are you busy today?”

Keith bites his lip slightly and shakes his head.

“Good. I’m cold.”

Keith goes to say something but Lance pulls him closer and grabs his hips rubbing his hipbones through his clothing. 

“Oh.”

Lance nods and glances at his bed with a smirk.

“No funny business, but you owe me.”

“I owe you?”

“Yeah. You got me kicked out of swim practice. My fine ass had to walk home in the cold this morning.”

Keith huffs indignantly making Lance laugh as he gently pulls him to the bed. Keith looks at it warily and Lance rolls his eyes.

“You’ve been on my bed before.”

“But never in it.”

“How unfortunate for you.”

Keith’s blush intensifies and Lance just smiles brightly as he throws a few pillows back in their place, and pulls the blankets back sliding in underneath them. After cocooning himself he gets comfortable but frowns when Keith doesn’t follow him into the bed. He pops his head out and looks at Keith who looks as uncomfortable as could be.

“What?”

“I’m covered in sweat.”

“Oh…well go shower. There’s a towel in there. You can just borrow some of my clothes.”

Keith looks at the bathroom and then back at Lance who laughs at his flustered expression. 

“You’re afraid of my shower? Really?”

“…no.”

“Go Kogane. I’ll be here.”

Lance disappears back beneath the blankets and Keith sighs as he walks to the bathroom stripping off his shirt as he goes. A wolf whistle makes him whip around and he throws his shirt at Lance who popped his head back up and was now wiggling his eyebrows. 

“I hate you.”

“Nice tattoo, asshole.”

Keith flips him off and disappears behind the door turning the shower on and hopping in. Enjoying the warm water relaxing his muscles he finishes washing his hair and hops out grabbing the clean towel and drying off. He stares at himself in the mirror and turns slightly to catch a glimpse of the tattoo Lance had mentioned. He smiles at the Korean symbols and rubs the towel through his hair before tying it back and wrapping the towel around his waist. He walks out and instantly shivers from the heat difference.

“Boxers are over there, sweatshirts are in the closet, and shorts are in the dresser.”

Keith smiles at the muffled instructions and walks around grabbing clothes laughing when he sees the collection of Batman inspired underwear. 

“Really Lance?”

“Don’t touch them. They’re too good for you and your judgmental ass.”

Keith scoffs and throws them on before dropping his towel and grabbing a sweatshirt from the closet. After he’s thoroughly covered he walks to the bed where Lance begrudgingly pulls the blankets back letting him in. Keith smiles and sighs at the warmth and snuggles into the fluffy pillows before Lance turns and latches onto him. 

“I knew you’d be a cuddly guy.”

“Shut up.”

Lance smiles and slips his long legs around him and pulls Keith closer so his head is against his chest. It takes him a few seconds to get comfortable with being in this position but eventually gets used to having another person this close in this context. Lance gently runs a hand through his damp hair enjoying the contact.

“…why’d you tell me about the mob thing?”

Keith looks up at him shyly and shrugs.

“I like you and if this was ever going to turn into something at all I didn’t think it would be fair for you not to know anything about my life…especially something that big.”

“Ah.”

“Wanted to give you the choice.”

Lance nods but doesn’t say anything worrying Keith that maybe he had misread this whole situation. Lance shifts slightly so he can look down at Keith with a confused expression.

“…have you ever killed anyone?”

Keith’s brows disappear into his hairline making Lance rethink his question.

“…you really don’t know anything about the outfit do you?”

“Should I?”

“I’d hope not…no I haven’t killed anyone.”

Lance stores that information and nods slowly.

“Okay, that’s good.”

Keith looks at him expectantly and smiles slightly.

“Anymore questions?”

Lance pauses racking his brain and nods eventually. 

“What do you do?”

“Collections mostly, and protection. I work at the brothel every other day after class.”

Lance’s eyes bug out of his head at that news and Keith hides his face but Lance grabs it and looks at him closely.

“A brothel?”

“Yeah. I make sure none of the clients try anything with the girls but that’s it.”

Lance processes this information and eventually nods.

“You don’t…you and them?”

Keith shakes his head quickly.

“No! I’m gay Lance.”

Lance nods and slyly looks at him.

“Do you think you could get me a deal with one of the girls or-“

Keith reaching up and punching him in the shoulder makes him laugh and cuts him off.

“Ouch! Uncle, uncle!”

Keith shoots him a halfhearted glare and Lance just kisses the side of his head making Keith groan. 

“I was kidding…but if you’re ever up for a three-way.”

Lance finger guns at him making Keith groan and roll over.

“Let’s just focus on a two-way first.”

A second passes and the shorter boy knows he made a mistake.

“Uh-“

“Aww you like me! You really like me!”

Keith groans and hides his head under the blankets making Lance laugh and dig him out.

“I like a dork.”

“Yeah and I like a gangster. Tough isn’t it?”

Lance wraps him back up with his limbs and smiles against the back of his neck. Keith smiles to himself and enjoys the warmth and body mass behind him. He could get used to this.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours later Keith wakes up and has to remind himself where he was after the initial panic subsides. Realizing there’s still a person behind him with a death grip around his waist sent him into panic mode, but he calmed himself down and started relaxing.

“Lance? You awake?”

He doesn’t get a response but instead just feels Lance hide his face in his neck making him smile. He sighs and gets comfortable again on the bed and closes his eyes enjoying the warmth. Keith slowly works his phone out and checks a few things making sure the world hasn’t gone to Hell while he’s been in heaven. 

“Go back to sleep.”

“Morning sleepy head.”

Lance groans and hides his face in Keith’s back trying to block out the light from his phone and the windows. Keith smiles and gently reaches back to muss up his hair.

“Mm I could get used to waking up like this.”

“Me too.”

Lance’s head pops up at Keith’s quiet response but he just smiles sweetly and nuzzles his nose into his cheek. Keith laughs and tries to push him away but Lance uses his advantage of having longer limbs to roll him over and pin his hand next to his head. Keith smiles up at him lazily and Lance settles on top of him removing any space between their bodies.

“Let’s go out.”

“Okay. Anything you want.”

Lance stares at him before laying his chin on Keith’s chest. Smiling when Keith runs a hand over his hair and stares at him tenderly. 

“…do you want to go see a movie?”

Lance nods with a smile.

“Sure. What movie?”

Keith fidgets slightly making Lance smirk.

“What?”

“Um it’s like a marathon of movies actually.”

Lance raises a brow and watches Keith blush slightly.

“…they’re the old school monster movies.”

Lance watches Keith’s face and smiles brightly.

“Okay. Sounds fun.”

“…and they’re outside.”

Lance’s eyes narrow and he sits up slightly looking down at Keith. 

“What do you mean outside?”

“Like an outdoor theatre. Picnic style.”

Lance thinks it over and nods eventually before getting out of bed and heading to his closet.

“Alright but we need tons of blankets. I’m not getting frostbite for you and your monsters…and you better hold my hand.”

Keith sits up and smiles at Lance’s requests before agreeing and hopping out of bed. He throws his pants back on and walks up behind Lance who is going through his scarves to find the warmest one and wraps his arms around his waist letting his weight rest onto him. Lance smiles at the contact and rubs the arms around his waist while glancing back at him. 

“Do you want to go home to grab your stuff?”

Keith thinks about it and shrugs.

“Yeah I guess I should. Let me call Tommy.”

Lance nods and can see Keith slip into his other persona as he walks back to the bed. Lance smiles softly and continues to grab his warmest clothing.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later Keith drives back in the Escalade he picked Lance up in the other night and when Lance gets in he can’t help but laugh at the bundle of sweaters with two eyes peeking over the edge of them in the drivers seat.

“Dude.”

Keith blushes and just taps the steering wheel ignoring Lance’s laughing. Lance himself had scaled back on the amount of clothing he was planning on wearing for the sake of looking reasonable on some level, but clearly Keith didn’t care at all. 

“Are you done?”

Lance nods and closes the door buckling up, as they start moving. After a few minutes Keith looks over as Lance once again shifts into a different position in the seat.

“Can you just sit still?”

“I can’t get comfortable!”

Keith looks at him scandalized but Lance just rolls his eyes and pulls his knees up so his feet are on the dashboard.

“Ah there we go.”

“Seriously?”

Lance shrugs and goes to play with the stereo.

“I’m used to sitting in the very back of the car with no leg room because I’m the youngest. What am I supposed to do with all this room by my feet? Just wasteful.”

Keith laughs making Lance smile as he finally picks a station of classic rock. Keith starts to tap his fingers to the beat confirming what Lance secretly thought.

“You like classic rock?”

“Yeah.”

Lance continues to watch Keith rock out silently to the beat. Lance lets this continue for a few more minutes before starting his own awful rendition of Aerosmith.

“Lance.”

“Talk about things and nobody cares! Wearing other things that nobody wears!”

Keith laughs at the boys awful singing and his overly spastic dance moves before humming the words to himself. Lance smiles over at him tapping his shoulder encouragingly.

“Come onnnnn Keith! Sing with me.”

“You call that singing?”

“Hey. Be nice to me. You like me.”

Keith blushes but tries to bury it beneath his mountain of scarfs. If Lance notices he doesn’t say anything and thankfully just continues to carry on with his singing. That’s how most of the drive went. Lance singing along to songs he kind of knew the words to and trying to get Keith to join him only for him to tap his fingers along with the beats. After 45 minutes they finally arrive and Lance is out of the car first. He smiles and enjoys the juxtaposition of temperature from the sun on his face and the semi-cold air around them.

“No wind. It’s a nice day Keithy boy.”

Keith grabs the thick blankets and a backpack he had packed with snacks and drinks from the car and heads to the grass, grabbing Lance on his way. Lance instantly winds their hands together and looks down at Keith who doesn’t say anything or even react. Interesting. Keith finds a semi flat piece grass and unfolds the blanket laying it down so they have a place to sit.

“That’s where they show it?”

“Mhm.”

Keith glances up slightly at the big screen and goes to sit down cross-legged with his bag in his lap. Lance copies his movement and leans back on his hands enjoying the sun again. 

“You hungry?”

“Not right now. My mom made me lunch before I left.”

Keith nods and puts the bag aside after he pulls another blanket over to them. Lance smiles and snuggles underneath the thick material enjoying the warmth. Keith joins him and after a few minutes the movies start playing. 30 minutes into the first movie Keith notices a few things. 1. Lance was physically the warmest person he’s ever met and 2. He did not wear enough clothing.

“…stop.”

Lance looks over at Keith and tries to stop his teeth from chattering but it wasn’t working no matter how hard he tried. Keith just rolls his eyes and tugs him closer by his waist and pulls the top scarf off his neck to wind it around Lance’s. The taller boy looks down at him and Keith just nods and goes back to watching the movie. The blush creeps up Lance’s face and he tucks his nose under the scarf enjoying the smell of Keith. 

“…thank you.”

“Mhm.”

Keith glances over at him and grabs his hand gently making Lance’s face turn an even deeper shade of crimson forcing him to turn away from him. Keith smiles and enjoys the heat of Lance’s skin on his own and swipes his thumb across the back of his thumb. 

“I just- how?”

Keith looks at Lance and shakes his head not understanding making Lance sigh.

“How are you so good at this?”

“Good at what?”

“This.”

He picks their hands up and motions to it while Keith quickly puts them back under the blanket.

“Lance!”

He chuckles and hides their hands back under the blanket as he watches Keith hide his face in his scarf.

“I’m not…I’m just doing what I’ve seen in movies. I’m doing okay though?”

Lance scoffs but doesn’t let his hand go.

“Lo estás haciendo genial mullet head.”

Keith smiles to himself even though he doesn’t really know what he said at all. 

“…I’m going to need to learn Spanish.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you learn this glorious language and maybe I’ll even show you how I roll my r’s.”

Keith blushes at Lance’s suggestive tone and tries to hide his blush but knows it’s not working. He mumbles something to him and Lance laughs as he leans in closer to hear him better.

“Que?”

“Si por favor.”

Keith laughs when Lance’s brain seems to stall and he takes the moment to kiss him chastely. Maybe he was good at this flirting thing.


	7. Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Long time no see. Sorry about that. Here's a chapter though! Hope you enjoy it.

This was bad. Keith stares at the crumpled man in the chair wincing when Tommy lands another blow to his face. There goes a tooth. 

“Keith.”

Keith snaps his head up and looks at his father who motions for him to come over. He complies and slowly walks over trying to ignore the gross sounds of flesh hitting bone. Tony glances up from his phone and nods to Keith as he hands him a set of keys.

“Lookin’ a little green there my boy.”

“Just haven’t eaten is all.”

Tony doesn’t look convinced but Keith looks away as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

“What’s up dad?”

“Take the car to the body shop. Tell Marello I need it stripped.”

Keith takes one more look at the man behind him in the chair and catches Tommy’s eyes making him pause before letting his fist fly.

“Keith. Come on.”

Keith takes the keys his father offers to him and all but runs to the blue BMW. Keith gets in and nods to his dad before pulling out and heading down the road. This was so wrong. He hated when his dad brought him on “outings” like this. A shiver runs through his body and wills himself to calm down at the red light. He was fine. There weren’t any bodies in the trunk and he didn’t actually do anything wrong…

“Not that it would matter to a judge.”

He taps his fingers against the wheel waiting for the light to turn green and when it does he slowly eases out into the intersection. A car flies by him and less than a minute later a police officer pulls up behind them making them stop on the side. Keith shakes his head and continues to drive at the correct speed. The key was blending in. If you went too fast or too slow you called attention to yourself, and having a cop pull you over in an expensive car that had no connection to you would be a one-way ticket to jail. It wasn’t long until he reached the automotive shop on the edge of town. He pulls in and turns the car off before getting out and looking around. Everything was the same. The stack of tires by the entrance, the barbed wire wrapping around the perimeter, and the pitbulls that run up to him when he makes his way inside. They looked scary and he was sure they could rip him apart in a second, but because of all the time he had spent her during his summers and times when they had a big rush the massive animals ran up to him licking his hands and jumping up to see his face. He smiles as he pushes the bigger of the two down and looks around.

“Marello!”

“Go away!”

Keith rolls his eyes and heads behind the counter to the back storeroom where the shout had come from. His hand skims the desk over a few documents reminding him of his many summers spent here. When he finally walks to the back room everything is the exact same as when he left it months ago.

“Do you ever clean Marello?”

“Hey fuck you alright, who- Keith!”

Keith laughs at the older mans quick change of emotions as he leans against the doorway. Car parts and old tires are scattered around the room with countless files that are of no use anymore.

“What are you doing here?”

Keith waves the keys in his hand making the older man nod understandingly as he walks back down the ladder. The dogs rush his legs and he laughs petting them each affectionately as he walks. Marello smiles at him before taking the keys and peeking his head outside.

“Wow. Nice car…it’ll look better in black.”

Keith rolls his eyes but nods nonetheless. Marello has him drive it inside the garage and put a sheet over it.

“Tell your dad I’ll have it gone tomorrow morning.”

“Will do. Thanks.”

Keith goes to turn but Marello catches his arm.

“Where do you think you’re going? Don’t you wanna see your baby?”

Keith smiles brightly while nodding. The older man leads Keith to the backroom where all the cars and bikes were lined up waiting to be fixed. Keith takes in each vehicle admiring the hard work that went into making the paint as shiny as it was. 

“Here she is.” 

Keith looks at the car smiling as the last couple of summers of hard work. Marello nudges him and he realizes he’d been dazing. 

“What?”

“Your part. It came in yesterday and I haven't gotten around to calling you, but fate has brought my hardest working mechanic to me to get this car out of my garage finally.”

“I am not-“

“Shut up. Unpack it and finish your car.” 

Keith stares at the older man not fully understanding. He laughs bemused and nudges him with his shoulder. 

“That's the last part remember?”

“…Oh shit. “

“Oh shit is right Sherlock. Take off that stupid suit and grab some spare clothes from the office.”

Keith nods quickly and disappears. Three hours and only one cut later Keith wipes his hands on the overalls as he smiles at the open hooded vehicle in front of him. 

“She's done.”

“Well-“

“I know I know…gotta start her.”

He hands Keith the keys but the younger man falters in his step suddenly growing worried. 

“What's wrong?”

“What if it doesn't work?”

He scoffs and pushes him towards the drivers seat. 

“Then you fix it….she'll work though.” 

Keith doesn't look convinced but sits down carefully to try and keep the grease from getting on anything. He takes a deep breath calm his nerves as he sticks the key in the ignition and turns it over. The engine growls to life making his face light up in a bright smile. 

“Holy shit!”

“Told you she would work!”

Keith gets out and hugs the older man tightly before putting the hood down and admiring their hard work. 

“We did good.”

“You did good. I just ordered the parts.”

“You're right. This was all me.”

Keith laughs as he dodges the other mans fist and smiles at him happily. He couldn't remember the last time he felt like this...oh wait. Lances face pops into his head and his cheeks flush for a second.

“You ready to take it?”

Keith glances at Marello and can see him staring at him with an unreadable expression.

“What?”

“It's yours. It's finished. Get it out of my garage.”

Keith laughs and nods to him. 

“Thank you for everything.”

He waves at him and grumbles something Keith doesn’t quite catch.

“Just keep working here during the summer and you know we're even.”

“Where else would I go?”

Marello laughs and waves him off before Keith quickly cleans up and goes to change back into his suit. He slides his shirt on and opens his phone. 

Keith: Hey what're you up to?

He puts his phone down so he can start buttoning his shirt but the vibration on the bench gets his attention. When he sees Lance’s name lit up he's surprised that the other responded so quickly.

Lance: At the pool. Wanna get lunch?

Keith: Yeah. I'll get you?

Lance: Sweeeeeeeettttttt. Do you have the address?

Keith scoffs with a smile at his text.

Keith: Yep. 

Keith keeps his shirt unbuttoned slightly and his jacket folded over his arm as he opens the garage door allowing him to move the car out into the driveway. After firmly securing the garage door in place and yelling his goodbye to Marello, he heads in the direction of the pool he knew Lance practiced at. Checking the time he can see it's almost noon, which was late for Lance to be swimming. Maybe he swims later on the weekends. It takes him about 15 minutes to get there and when he parks in front he sees the text from Lance telling him to just come inside because he has another workout to finish. He carefully parks in an open spot off to the side and slowly meanders inside the big complex. When the door opens he’s instantly happy with his decision of leaving his jacket off when the humid chlorinated air hits his skin. He looks around and slowly makes his way up to the observation deck looking over the pools below. He finally sees Lance in the pool closest to the overhang making him smile to himself as he sits down in the front row so he can lean onto the railing to watch. Lance stands on the concrete behind the diving block of the lane as he stretches his shoulders and neck out before hopping up onto the block. He stares at the pool and then the clock before taking a deep breath and bending at the waist getting set. He glances at his watch before shooting off into the water making the smallest splash Keith has ever seen. 

“…Wow.”

Lance’s body moves quickly under the water before he breeches and he's a flurry of legs and arms as he makes his way down the lane fast. His body rocks as he does what Keith thinks is the butterfly…besides the summer Olympics last year he knew nothing about swimming. Lance swiftly makes it down and back before flipping and repeating the motion. When he finally comes to the end of the lane he hits the wall and checks his watch checking his time. Clearly it had gone well by the way he spins himself around with his arms in the goal motion. It's then he catches sight of Keith who waves slightly at the happy boy. Lance pulls his goggles and cap off dipping his head under the water to cool himself down before pulling his body up and out of the water. Keith blushes as he really notices how tight the suits are and looks away slightly making Lance smirk. He grabs his towel and phone before motioning to it as he disappears into the locker room. 

Lance: I’m going to shower real fast then I’ll meet you in the lobby.

Keith smiles and slowly stands making his way down the stairs to the lobby where he waits for him. A few minutes later Lance walks out with baggy sweatpants, no shirt and a zip up hoodie with a duffel bag over his shoulder. When he sees Keith leaning against the wall Lance smiles and nods to him.

“Hey.”

Keith looks up and his intimidating resting face is replaces with a shy smile.

“Hey. You ready?”

“Hell yeah. I'm so hungry.”

Lance smiles at him as they walk out to the parking lot. Keith smirks as he grabs his keys while Lance looks around for the big escalade that he'd grown accustomed to. 

“Where’s your- Keith.”

Keith steps up to the red corvette and looks over at the confused boy.

“Yeah?”

Lance watches him unlock the red car and looks skeptical. 

“Is that yours?”

“Uh...yes?”

Lance looks it over before smiling and quickly hopping inside. He throws his duffel into the backseat and buckles himself in as he looks at the new interior. 

“Is this new?”

“Just finished her this morning”

Lance’s eyes go wide and he makes a wild gesture making Keith laugh. 

“I need you to use words.”

“You? You made this?”

Keith blushes slightly and nods.

“Well yeah with some help...been a three year project but she's finally done.” 

“That's so cool!”

Keith smiles shyly at him and shrugs noncommittally. 

“Thanks.”

Lance nods happily and sinks into the seat. 

“…How far back do the seats go?”

“...far enough.”

Lance raises a brow and Keith just rolls his eyes.

“We are never doing it in my car.”

“Wasn’t what I meant, but never say never mullet head.” 

“I hate you.”

“Noooo you can't hate me. I'm too cute for that.”

Keith laughs at his puppy dog eyes and ruffles his damp hair as he backs out of the lot heading down the road. Lance sits back in his seat and continues to talk about everything and anything as they make their way to the diner Keith fancies. 

“So I told her that I would not only be a fairy princess, but I'd be a pretty one too. Gotta have a balance you know?”

“Oh yeah I definitely know.”

Lance looks at Keith and nods. 

“You should. You have the hairstyle to be a princess.”

Keith turns to him and raises a brow. 

“If you make fun of my hair one more time I’m going to make you walk home.”

Lance looks skeptical but his look is challenging as he smirks.

“...I don't need to make fun of it. It does that enough on its own.”

Keith quickly gets out when Lance starts laughing loudly before following suit. 

“Aww come on Keith! Laugh a little!”

“Better eat some protein. You're gonna need the energy for the 10 mile walk.”

Lance laughs and throws his arm around his shoulder when he catches up to him as they go and sit down. The waitress comes over and fills their coffee cups up giving them a minute to look over the menu. Keith enjoys the calm diner and relaxes slightly into the plush bench. 

“So besides fixing the car and threatening your sexy swimmer man friend, what'd you do today?”

Keith shrugs and reads over the pancakes. 

“Helped my dad out with some things.”

Lance tenses slightly and Keith regrets mentioning his dad instantly. 

“Just had to bring a car to the shop. Don't worry.”

Lance nods slowly smiling as he does. I didn’t technically lie…

“Was that the butterfly?”

Lance glances at him as he sips his coffee.

“Hm?”

“The stroke you were doing. In the pool.”

Keith moves his hand like a wave making Lance laugh.

“Oh! Yeah yeah. 100 butterfly. It's my event.”

Keith smirks at the pride he can see in Lance’s face. He picks up his steaming cup and watches him over the edge.

“Yours huh?”

Lance smiles brightly at him and throws more sugar and creamer into his coffee.

“Well it will be. I already have the 50 meter butterfly under my belt so coach thinks I can do the 100 and win.”

“What's the difference?”

“Less of a sprint and more of a steady pace.”

“Oh gotcha.”

Lance nods to him as he shuts his menu and leans forward on his elbows. 

“Do you swim?”

Keith makes a face but nods.

“I can. I do in the summer in my pool, but clearly it’s not like your swimming.”

“You have a pool?”

Keith nods and goes to speak but the waitress interrupts them. He orders the cognac banana pancakes while Lances gets the triple berry French toast. Keith raises a brow and Lance grimaces. 

“Don't tell my coach.”

“I don’t know your coach and if I did I wouldn’t talk about your eating habits…no matter how weird they are.”

Lance scoffs making Keith chuckle.

“But why can’t I talk to your coach about your breakfast?

“The meet is in 2 weeks. Gotta be in the best shape.”

Keith sips his coffee and shrugs.

“You're in great shape.”

Lance's ears turn a shade of red making Keith smile. 

“Well, uh thanks…But, I want to win. If I do well I could compete at Nationals this year.”

“Wow.”

Lance nods excitedly at him.

“Mhm! Not to mention my scholarship rides on my swimming so if I do well I can probably get more money.”

“You're on scholarship?”

Lance looks at him like he’s crazy.

“Hell yeah. How else do you think my parents afford to have as many kids as they do? I got lucky that I'm good at this just like Isabella is good at dancing.”

“You're good at a lot of things, don't sell yourself short.”

Lance pauses at the absoluteness in Keith's voice and he smiles into his coffee cup as he takes a small sip. 

“Thanks.”

“It's the truth.” 

Lance doesn't respond but instead chooses to try to and get more info on him. 

“So you have a pool?”

“Mhm. Big backyard pool. Only ever used it when it was stifling hot.”

“You'll have to show me.”

“It's not as impressive as the ones you practice in.”

“No, but you'll be there hopefully in a suit so that'll be worth it.”

Keith laughs and shakes his head. 

“Maybe I'll invite you over.”

“You better. Where do you live anyways?”

“…On Greenwich.” 

Lances eyes bug and he stares at Keith like he’d grown a second head.

“Um what?”

“You live on McMansion street?”

Keith frowns and shakes his head.

“No?”

“Yes you do. What's your house number?”

“1983.”

“That's the biggest one!”

Keith blushes at his raised tone and sinks into his seat a little more.

“Lance!”

Lance settles down but shakes his head. 

“I didn't realize I was into a millionaire.”

Keith grimaces and shakes his head.

“Millionaire is a bit strong-“

Lance raises a brow and looks at him unimpressed.

“I bet you live in the pool house like Will Smith did in Fresh Prince.”

Keith doesn't respond confirming Lance’s suspicion. He just shakes his head in fake annoyance.

“Stupid rich people.”

“Hey now, you live in a tower.”

“I live in the attic, correction.”

Keith laughs and looks at him entertained.

“It's nice!”

“Well thank you.”

Lance smiles brightly and Keith just shakes his head amused. 

“You just like that I'm comparing you more to a princess don't you?”

“Well I'm not complaining about it.”

“Of course.”

Lance laughs and shrugs with a big smile.

“But you're rich. Good to know.”

Keith shakes his head.

“I'm not rich, my dad is.”

“That's fair, but you will have to show me your pool house home though.”

He smiles shyly at him making Keith smile back.

“Yeah one day.”

Lance nods and blushes when Keith reaches across the table to brush his fingers over his hand. He breaks the contact when he hears the waitress coming back to put their food in front of them. They both dig in quickly almost finishing their whole breakfast’s. They eventually fall into a comfortable silence and Keith sits back enjoying the way Lance sips his coffee but grimaces every time. He eventually glances up at him over the mug and rolls his eyes. 

“What?”

“If you don't like it, you don't have to drink it.”

Lance shrugs and stares at the drink.

“I like the caffeine.”

“But not the taste?”

“...not as much.”

Keith laughs and nods. 

“Then just drink tea.”

Lance sticks his tongue out in disgust making Keith smile.

“Well, then I can't help you.” 

“I didn't ask for help. I'll learn to enjoy the taste. Just let me not enjoy this cup.”

“Can do.”

“Good.”

Lance smiles at him brightly before downing the cup and going to grab Keith's orange juice.

“Hey! That's mine.”

Lance rolls his eyes and swats Keith’s hand away so he can pick up the cup.

“Boyfriends share things asshole.”

Keith's eyes widen and Lance stills realizing what he just said before retracting his hand from the cup.

“…But we're not boyfriends so I should...not take...this.”

Keith doesn't say anything and when the waitress comes over placing the bill, Keith grabs it and pays. Lance swallows at the action making him believe Keith just wanted to get out of here. He leaves a big tip and goes to stand up watching Lance hop up quickly and brush past him. Keith goes to say something but stops himself knowing he had no idea what to say. They walk silently to the car and get in without a word. Keith takes a deep breath and Lance sinks as far into his seat as he can while staring out the window. The tension is palpable but Keith starts the car and begins their drive back tapping the wheel as he drives. This was too much. After ten minutes Keith pulls over onto the side of the side by an outcrop for an old baseball field. 

“Uh, what-“

Lance’s brow furrows and he looks at Keith questioningly but Keith’s unreadable expression stops him. They sit there in silence for a few seconds before Keith speaks abruptly.

“What?”

“You are my boyfriend.”

“Uh-“

Keith shakes his head and turns towards him surprising Lance with his look.

“No stop listen. You are….do you want to be?” 

Lance laughs lightly and nods.

“Yes.”

Keith nods assuredly. 

“Then you are. Two boyfriends. That's what we are.”

Lance looks at Keith and smiles at his white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel before reaching over and gently taking his hand running his fingers over his knuckles. Keith watches him quietly before sighing and sitting back in his seat. 

“…You okay?”

“Yes.”

“You sure? Because I really wasn't trying to force you into anything.”

Keith scoffs.

“You couldn't force me into anything, promise.”

Lance raises a brow and chuckles rubbing a scar on his knuckle. Keith’s hands were a combination of soft and wrecked. He had scars everywhere but especially localized on his knuckles. There was a new cut on the top of his hand that had scabbed over earlier in the day, but his nails were neat in direct opposition to the scars.

“You sure about that?”

Lance raises a brow and Keith nods. 

“Absolutely.”

“I don't know about that...I saw the way you were looking at me at the pool. You looked pretty willing to do what I wanted then.”

Keith stiffens as he thinks back to Lance’s suit. 

“I- I was not.”

“Were too. I don't blame you though. I am a specimen of a fine male physique.”

Keith rolls his eyes and flicks Lance’s finger.

“Oh yeah mhm.”

Lance smiles brightly at him before laughing. 

“…So. We're boyfriends now.”

“Yes.”

“Do I need to keep it a secret?”

That was a loaded question. Lance feels Keith’s hand stiffen but he continues to massage his knuckles waiting for the answer passively. 

“...no.”

“So that's a yes.”

Keith sighs and shrugs. 

“Let’s just not have anyone tell my dad...or his driver...or anyone he might know.”

Lance nods slowly. 

“I'll tell my friends to keep it in the down low.”

Keith laughs at the mention of Pidge and Hunk. Good luck with that Lance.

“You think they will?”

“Yeah, except when they’re around us. Get ready to be the center of all jokes and all conversations for the rest of our lives.”

Keith laughs and nods.

“I’ll try and prepare myself.”

“Oh good, please do.”

Lance stills his movements making Keith look over at him. They stare at each other happily before Lance gently tugs his hand pulling him over so he can kiss him chastely. Keith intertwines their fingers together as he smiles into the kiss. When Lance pulls back slightly Keith smiles and puts their foreheads together.

“Thanks for being such an understanding boyfriend.”

“Yeah, yeah I know I’m the best.”

Keith laughs and kisses him again to stop him from saying anything else. When they finally separate Lance smiles happily and sinks into his seat. Keith pulls back onto the road and continues their drive back to the city with Lance holding his hand securely by his side. Every once in a while Keith would run this rough thumb pad across the back of his hand making Lance smile. When they finally get to the front of Lance’s house they sit there for a few seconds before he goes to grab his bag.

“Will I see you later?”

Keith thinks it over and eventually shakes his head.

“I have to go see Nyma for most of the afternoon…”

“Ah okay. Well have fun…but not too much fun okay?”

“Get out of my car Lance.”

Lance laughs and waves to him as he gets out of the car. Keith looks over at him and shakes his head happily.

“Text me okay?”

“You know I will.”

Lance winks at him and motions for him to get going as he walks around the edge of the car. Keith drives off down the road and Lance watches the car go happily. I have a boyfriend. 

Thirty minutes later Keith pulls into the brothel back lot and gets out slipping his jacket on and back into his gangster mode. He walks inside and sweeps his gaze around the room making sure everything was running smoothly. He nods to a few of the girls he’d come to know as he makes his way back to the office. Before he can open the door though Nyma’s voice this his ears.

“You need to leave Rolo.”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what I need to know.”

“Rolo-“

Something crashes onto the floor and Keith pushes the door in making both of them snap their attention back to him.

“Nyma is-“

“Who the hell is this asshole?”

Keith raises a brow and Nyma rolls her eyes at the man who knocked the something heavy onto the floor.

“Nyma are you okay?”

“Hey I’m talking to you!”

Keith shakes his head and watches the other man take a step closer to him. 

“Rolo don’t-“

Keith looks at Nyma quickly but in that second the other man jumps at him punching him square in the cheek splitting his lip. Fuck! That was going to hurt tomorrow.

“Keith!”

Keith steadies his stance and grabs the other guy by the color forcing him still. 

“That, was a mistake.”

“Fuck you-“

Keith swings his fist around punching him square in the gut forcing him to double over so Keith have elbow him in the back making him go down hard. Keith forces hi back up slightly enjoying the grunt of pain that escapes him, before throwing the door open and all but dragging him down the hall and out the front door. He throws Rolo into the concrete and sneers at him as he looks up at him.

“You ever come back here I’ll make sure you leave with more than a hurt ego.”

He slams the door and walks back into the foyer wiping his lip as he goes. He stills when he feels eyes on him and turns to look at the men and woman staring at him.

“What? That’s what happens when you don’t want to pay. I hope you all have your money ready.”

He rolls his eyes and heads back to the office as Nyma bends down to clean up the messed up papers and the paperweight. That must have been what fell.

“You didn’t need to do that.”

“That’s an odd way of saying thank you.”

Nyma spares a glance at him and he sits down on the coach heavily grimacing when he moves his jaw. 

“Here.”

He looks up when Nyma holds him a cold beer.

“Not thirsty.”

“Okay? Put it on your cheek. Also, your lip is bleeding.”

He takes it and nods before wiping his lip with the back of his hand.

“…thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Are you okay?”

Nyma pauses before nodding. 

“I will be.”

“How do you know that guy?”

She looks up at him before sitting down on the coach with him and grabbing the beer to open it and taking a sip. He raises a brow and she shrugs.

“I was thirsty.”

“Good. Don’t let it go to waste.”

She smiles half-heartedly at him and hands it back to him for his face.

“…he’s my husband.”

Keith’s brows fly up and Nyma sighs tiredly. 

“You’re married?”

“Unfortunately.”

They sit in silence for a few more seconds before Keith kicks her lightly.

“I have a secret boyfriend.”

“A secret one huh? Are you hiding him in the closet?”

Nyma smiles and laughs making Keith chuckle.

“That was a terrible joke.”

“You could say that about both of our lives right now.”

He smiles and takes a sip of the beer before handing it back to her. 

“I don’t know, he’s pretty cool. You’d like him.”

She smiles at him and nods.

“Well if you like him, then I’m sure he’s worth it.”

“He is…he definitely is.”

Nyma watches Keith smile at the floor as she finishes off the beer and goes to grab another one. She just hoped his choice in men was better than hers.


	8. Of Bruises and Blow Jobs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some slight sexual stuff at the end so be aware of that haha but otherwise enjoy! Let me know what you think :) finals are over and I'm officially a college graduate.

Pidge glanced up for what felt like the hundredth time staring at the two boys across from her as they work on their projects. Her eyes carefully watch Keith scribble on his paper with a blank face while Lance bites his lip as he works through one of the tougher problems they had assigned to them. Keith wasn’t even in their math class but he still came over to help them, or rather Lance, with his homework. When he had rung the doorbell and her mom had let him into their home she was surprised to see her usually welcoming mom wary of the boy in front of her. It wasn’t until they saw Keith's bruised cheek and split lip that Pidge had understood. Lance had continued to stand on the bottom step staring at the other boy before he turned and ran back upstairs before Keith could say anything. Pidge was the one who finally grabbed Keith before her mother could whisk him away to the kitchen and pull her normal magic mother shit that made all her friends fall in love with her.   
“Keith we’re studying upstairs.”  
Keith nods and smiles politely at Mrs. Gunderson as he slips by her and up the stairs behind Pidge. When they finally walked into her room Lance had set up his homework and himself against the huge trunk she had. Hunk was against the bed where Pidge had also set up her stuff so she returned to her comfortable spot. Lance looked up at him briefly and motioned to the spot across from him, which is where he sat down and had been sitting for most of the afternoon. No one had mentioned his busted face she thought it was best to leave it alone... Hunk nudges her making her look at his "stop staring" face and she simply blows her messy bangs out of her face in response. Lance suddenly groans and rubs at his eyes tiredly forcing everyone’s attention on him.  
"Did you guys figure out 37a? I can't figure out which formula to use."  
Keith doesn't even look up from his homework as he hands Lance his sheet and points at the formula. Lance stares at the neat scrawl and shakes his head.  
"…Really? But why?"  
Keith points at the paper after glancing up quickly catching Lance’s attention.  
"There's only one missing data point once you map through the word problem. That’s how you know the formula to use because each formula lines up with a certain missing data point."  
Lance fidgets in his seat and pulls his heels closer to his butt making Keith’s legs slide to him.  
"…How do you know how to find the data point?"  
Keith tears his eyes away from his book and turns to him quickly underling certain words and connecting them to their data points. Lance follows his fingers and eventually nods.   
"Oh okay. That makes sense, thanks."  
Keith nods and turns back to his other homework. Pidge looks over his book trying to see what he was working on but Lance’s look stops her. She raises a brow and he shakes his head but she continues on anyway. Lance takes his long leg and goes to kick her but she swats him away and scoots closer to Keith and his mysterious notebook.  
"So Keith, what're you working on?"  
He looks up at her and slightly moves his papers closer to his chest glancing at Lance who is sending murderous vibes.  
"Uh, some inventory and balance sheets."  
Pidge smiles over at Lance and continues on with her mission of finding out more abut Keith than the small snippets Lance had brought up since they started “hanging out.”  
"For what?"  
Keith stares at her with a challenging look but Lance hits his shoulder making Keith snap out of whatever it was he was thinking. It was like watching a thunderstorm clear in an instance. His brows relaxed and he stopped biting his lip when he saw Lance. Interesting.  
"Oh um just a business I work at on my days off."  
"Oh."  
Her face falls slightly at the boring answer but Keith tidies the papers up slowly and puts his book over them. Even more interesting.  
"Yeah it's super boring but they need help so I give it."  
Pidge nods but Hunk speaking up makes both of them look over. Lance stares at his friend making him pause before speaking but Keith’s expectant look makes him continue.  
"Why don't they just use an accountant?"  
Lance blinks at them before looking at Keith curious as well. Keith takes a breath thinking over his practiced excuse.  
"I'm cheaper. And they're a little old school so my dad asked me to help out."  
Lance seems to accept that answer and gives his friends a look making them back off with their questions. Pidge begrudgingly goes back to her work and her and Hunk continue going over their project numbers. Keith eventually checks his watch and groans when he sees the time. Lance looks up over his book and watches Keith start to pack up his stuff.  
"I gotta go."  
Lance looks up at him and untangles his legs from his lap as he goes to stand with his backpack slung over his shoulder. Keith smiles at him and pushes him back slightly when Lance goes to stand. Hunk and Pidge pretend to be engrossed in their work and avoid looking at them directly worried it would scare Keith off. Lance looks up at him confused and Keith just hands him a few pieces of paper that Lance realizes is his homework.  
"I'll see you tomorrow. Bring my homework with you."  
Lance nods slowly and takes the papers from his outstretched hand purposefully dragging his fingers over his.  
"Yeah okay. Thanks mullet."  
Keith rolls his eyes but packs up and waves his goodbyes to the others before heading out the door. Lance stays sitting for approximately 5 seconds before he starts patting his pockets down and feigning worry.  
"Oh shoot he has my phone."  
Lance gets up and shuffles after him letting Hunk and Pidge share a look as they both spot Lance’s phone sitting on the floor by his book only partially hidden. Pidge rolls her eyes and looks up at Hunk who is just smiling at the ridiculousness of the situation.  
"...He’s not even trying to be sneaky."  
"Not at all."  
Pidge groans and fall over with her book clutched to her chest, making Hunk laugh. He pats her knee as he continues to work on his homework.

Outside by the door Keith stops when he hears someone coming after him. When he turns he's forced back a step by Lance kissing him. His eyes widen at the soft kiss but he laughs and hugs him closely to finish their kiss before leaning back a few seconds later. Lance smiles up at him with an unreadable expression in his eyes.  
"What has gotten into you?"  
Lance smiles and shrugs enjoying the closeness of their chests and Keith’s warm hands on his waist.   
"Didn't want my boyfriend to leave without at least one kiss…that’s bad for the health you know."  
Keith shakes his head at Lance’s adorable expression.  
"Oh wow, thank you for thinking of my well being."  
He rolls his eyes happily but stops and stares at his lip letting his smile fall off of his face. Keith grimaces and wipes his hand against his mouth realizing the throbbing in his lip wasn’t solely from a great kiss. Lance grimaces at the red stain on Keith’s finger and he takes a deep breath calming his anxiety.  
“Lance it’s-“  
"We are going to talk about your face."  
Keith looks up at him with a warning look but doesn't say anything instead choosing to just nod. Lance sighs and kisses his collarbone quickly smiling when Keith’s grip tightens.  
"Lance…I do have to go."  
He sighs and nods looking up at him pointedly.  
"I know. Be good."  
Keith raises a brow and nods before kissing his temple gently and turning around to head down the stairs. Lance watches him go letting his smile falter when he’s out of sight. The bruise and split lip had startled him when he first saw the purple marks and the deep scab, but he couldn’t ask about it in front of Hunk and Pidge. He hadn’t even told them about Keith’s “side job” and he wasn’t even sure he should... Keith also avoiding his eye contact when he had gotten here made him hold off from his barrage of questions that occupied his mind so he ran away up the stairs.   
Lance slowly makes his way back to Pidge's bedroom and sits pulling his homework back into his lap silently. Hunk looks up at him and can see the frown anchored on his face and his brows are knitted in worry. Hunk’s sock covered foot slowly inches over to him and taps his shin catching his attention.   
"You okay?"  
Lance looks over at him and nods simply but the tension in his forehead doesn’t disappear.  
"Yeah."  
Hunk doesn't respond so Lance looks up at them.   
"...What?"  
Pidge looks up at Hunk having watched this whole conversation from her place on the floor.  
"Are you and Keith...?"  
Lance blinks simply but a smile slowly spreads over his face.  
"He asked me to be his boyfriend."  
Pidge scrambles up into a sitting position and fixes her glasses as she looks at him closely.   
"And you're just now telling us?"  
Lance makes a face while rubbing the back of his neck.   
"Well-"  
"His dad right?"  
Lance nods at Hunk’s succinct reasoning.  
"Yeah."  
Pidge nods silently.   
"So we shouldn't make fun of you two for being hopelessly in love with each other and being so gay? At least in public?"  
Lances lips raise in a smirk as he looks up at her.   
"Yeah in public it’s off limits, but by all means, please make fun of us in private. I'm sure Keith will love that."  
"Yeah because he seems like the perfect guy to take a joke like that."  
Lance looks at Hunk with a frown.   
"What?"  
Hunk makes a face and shrugs at Lance.  
"Nothing…just Keith is wound a little tightly you know?"  
Lance nod slowly and makes a mental note to work on that with him.  
"He's not as uptight as he seems...and you guys are my best friends so I want you all to get along."  
Hunk nods slowly with an encouraging smile.   
"We do like him.”  
“Yeah he’s funny in his secretive way.”  
Lance scoffs at Pidge and shakes his head. If only they knew.   
“Hell, if he knows any cute girls send them my way okay?"  
"Yeah okay Hunk."

On the other side of town Keith couldn’t be more bored. His father had texted him saying he had to come for a meeting, but this was hardly a meeting.   
"How's school?"  
Keith sits up when his father’s attention focuses on him.  
"Good. Easy mostly."  
"Good good...and the business?"  
Keith stiffens under his father’s calculating stare.  
"Fine. We’re making our margins up."  
“Ah good…now what the hell happened to your face?”  
Tony looks up at Keith and raises a brow letting him know he wasn't blind. Keith huffs and turns his face so his bruise isn’t as noticeable but even if his father noticed he doesn’t say anything.   
“Uh had some trouble at the club.”  
“You let someone hit you?”  
“…Lucky shot.”  
“Did you at least kick his ass?”  
Keith nods simply making his father smile slightly. After another 15 minutes of them eating and making small talk, Tony checks his phone one more time before huffing and putting the device back in his pocket.   
"I ordered some dessert, but something came up. Feel free to eat and I'll see you at the house tonight."  
Keith nods and groans when his dad ruffles his hair as he gets up. He gently thumbs the bruise making Keith wince.  
"Be good."  
Keith stiffens and flicks his eyes up at him worriedly.  
"Uh, always..."  
He laughs and nods to the other men in the room as he leaves. Keith sighs and settles into the seat quickly pulling his phone out and sending a quick text to Lance. He’s happy when Lance texts him back almost immediately with a kissing emoji. His heart rate returns to normal and he reminds himself that his dad knew nothing about Lance and that he was fine… a plate of ricotta pie and a bag of ice are placed in front of him making him jump. He looks up to see the familiar face of Shay with a happy smile.   
"Shay!"  
Shay smiles and nods before sitting across from him. Her hair is held back in twin braids and her outfit consists of jeans and a plaid shirt. Keith gingerly takes the bag of ice and places it on his cheek enjoying the sting of the cold. She watches him closely and reaches out to steal a fry from his plate. He laughs happily and shakes her head.  
"What're you doing back?"  
She motions around the room with her fry and shrugs.  
"My dad needed some help with this place so here I am."  
"What about-"  
Her strong smile makes him stop and she takes a deep breath taking a bite out of the fry.  
"It's just a semester off...I can make it up."  
Keith nods but doesn't say anything else after seeing the carefully hidden distress on her face.   
"Well, it's nice to see you."  
"Same to you. Nice to know the one constant thing in my life is your haircut."  
"Not you too..."  
She laughs but quirks a brow at him when he gently tugs on the ends of his long hair.   
"Me too? Who else is making fun of your hair?"  
Keith glances u at her and shrugs.  
"Too many people."  
She notices the slight pink on his cheeks but doesn't push the topic knowing how private he can be.   
"Since when are you working on the books?"  
"Since my dad decided I needed to be more involved…and large sums of money started disappearing."  
Shea nods understandingly. She knew Keith didn't want to be anywhere near this type of stuff and her dad had said he seemed less than thrilled to be in charge of the books here.   
"Is school going well?"  
"Yeah it's pretty easy right now. The group project is the only bad part, but even that’s not that bad."  
Shay nods understandingly.  
"Bad partner?"  
Keith looks down at his food as he shakes his head.   
"Uh no. The partner is fine just don't have time to do it on top of the club and these books."  
Shea smiles at his bashful look and nods knowingly.   
"Gotcha. Well, if you ever need to escape from your hectic life you know where to find me.”  
Keith glances over at the bar in the middle of the room and smirks.  
“Behind that bar?”  
“Yep, behind that bar.”  
Shay and Keith both laugh at their equally annoying predicaments before they fall into a tense silence. Shay nods towards his backpack and smiles sadly.   
“…So you’re running the books?”  
“Yeah. I guess. I only look at them when there’s a big issue.”  
Shea nods slowly but doesn’t respond just watching Keith play with his food as he stares intensely at the fork. She shifts in her seat and he glances up at her quickly catching her gaze. She offers him a small smile so Keith sends a quick turn of his lips up in return. Keith’s phone going off breaks the silence and he checks the caller ID before picking up.  
“Everything okay?”  
“Fine, but I won’t be back tonight. I have a business meeting so I’ll be back in a week. Maybe 2.”  
Keith pauses as that information sinks in.   
“Keith.”  
“Got it. See you then.”  
“I’ll call when I’m on my way back.”  
“Okay.”  
Tony hangs up and Keith just stares at the phone before looking up at Shay. She looks concerned but Keith just shakes his head and actually smiles.  
“That good of a phone call?”  
He shrugs and realizes he looked too happy so he settles his facial muscles into his usual resigned look. Shay smiles at him as she shakes her head.  
“Okay well you suck at hiding how you feel, so remember that, but I have to get back to work…I’ll see you around?”  
Keith nods and waves to her as she walks off to clean up a few more tables. He continues to sit there until he pulls out his phone and heads out the door. Shay waves one more time as he heads through the doors and into his car. When he gets situated he dials and waits for it to connect. A few short rings later a breathy voice picks up and Keith can feel himself relax.  
“Keith? You there?”  
“Do you want to come over tonight?”  
There’s a pause that allows for Keith to wonder if maybe he was rushing something, but Lance’s ecstatic voice coming across the phone stops that train of thought.  
“Of course! Oh my gosh. I’m going to pack a bag. This is going to be great! I’ll finally get to see what your room looks like.”  
“Lance it’s not that impressive.”  
“I’ll be the judge of that.”  
Keith laughs and Lance all but swoons on the other side of the call.   
“I’ll pick you up in a few hours?”  
“Um sure. Don’t come in otherwise my mom will make you eat dinner…she thinks you’re too skinny.”  
Keith scoffs at that.  
“I’m bigger than you.”  
“That’s debatable.”  
“Lance-“  
“Okay bye! See you soon!”  
Keith laughs as he hears the click signaling the call was over.   
“…What a loser.”  
Keith takes off down the street to clean up his room slightly.

3 hours later Keith pulls up to the curb and doesn’t even have to text Lance that he’s here before the leggy boy is running down the steps and getting into the car. Keith smiles at Lance as he throws his bag into the back seat and buckles up. He’s practically vibrating in his seat and tries to contain his excitement but is failing miserably.  
“…Hey.”  
Lance smiles at him before he grabs Keith’s hand and looks out the window.  
“Okay. I’m ready.”  
Keith rubs his thumb over his fingers and nods with a smile.  
“Alright let’s go.”  
Lance nods and Keith pulls out into the road and heads to his home. 

When they finally park and get out Lance is speechless as he looks up at the white house with huge front door. Keith watches him move his bag in front of himself as he takes it all in. Keith nervously shuts the door and pushes him around the walkway to turn towards the pool house he made his own. Lance’s smile never falters and he follows Keith happily into the pool house and up the stairs. Keith looks around and rubs the back of his neck nervously.  
“Alright well, this is it.”  
Lance nods and twirls around taking in the room. There was a kitchen to their right, a sitting room to his left and another staircase leading up to the third floor where he thinks the bedroom is.   
“…Very Fresh Prince of you.”  
Keith rolls his eyes forcing a cheeky laugh out of Lance as he puts his bag down and wraps his arms around the slightly smaller boy. Keith looks up at him through his ridiculously long eyelashes and gets comfortable in his embrace.  
“…Why are you nervous?”  
Keith blows his bangs out of his eyes and shrugs making Lance’s arms tighten.  
“Because this isn’t like your home…”  
Lance frowns and looks at him like he’s grown another head.  
“So? It’s your home.”  
Keith doesn’t respond for a minute so Lance leans forward and blows a raspberry on the top of his head. Keith squirms as he laughs trying to escape but Lance holds him close and moves to blow another one on his cheek forcing Keith to groan with a smile tugging at his lips. Keith glares up at him trying to fight his amusement but Lance just rolls his eyes and moves to walk around.  
“How long have you lived in here?”  
Keith follows after him and leans against the doorframe as Lance looks around the room while picking up different knick-knacks and playing with them. He smiles at the random objects as he turns to Keith and motions around.  
“You have interesting taste in decorations.”  
“Antique stores are my specialty.”  
Lance scoffs and looks at him pointedly but Keith giving him the finger stops his train of thought.  
“I didn’t say anything!”  
“You were going to make fun of my mullet and say it belongs in an antique shop.”  
Lance smirks as he puts the weird glass ball down on the side table and makes his way past Keith.  
“…You admitted you have a mullet.”  
Keith swears and swats at Lance as he jumps out of the way but trips over his bag falling to his butt. He winces but Keith laughs at his sprawled form before coming to his aid. Lance takes his offered hand after looking up at him like a wounded puppy. Keith smiles sympathetically and hoists him up, grabbing him by the waist so he doesn’t fall again. Lance looks down at him breathlessly and Keith can’t help but stare at into his pretty blue eyes. A blush flashes across Lance’s cheeks and he smiles lightly at the closeness of their bodies.  
“…Now would be a good time to kiss me.”  
“Oh yeah?”  
Lance nods and raises a tempting brow but Keith just wrinkles his nose and steps back confusing Lance.  
“Hey what-“  
“How about we get your bag upstairs before you trip again?”  
Lance glances from his bag to the small staircase leading to the ominous third floor. Keith waits for his confirmation and after a tentative nod Lance grabs his empty hand to be dragged along upstairs.  
“Come on. You finally get to see what’s in my room.”  
Lance smiles at him happily and takes the stairs two at a time and they’re quickly on the landing of the stairs. Keith lets his hand go to put the bag on an empty desk chair and turns to take in the room. The walls are covered in alien posters and posters about planets. On the wall above his bed there’s a map of the constellations. Above his desk is a collection of cryptid photos making Lance laugh but the pair of alien sweatpants sitting partially covered by the bed has him rolling his eyes.  
“You’re such a space nerd Keith.”  
“Yep.”  
Keith smiles at him as he sits on his white bedspread and leans back on his red pillows watching Lance walk around the room. His eyes travel the walls but a frown flashes across his face catching Keith’s attention.   
“What?”  
“Hm?”  
Lance looks over at him and Keith motions for him to come over so Lance kicks his shoes off as he crawls up the bed to lie on his boyfriend’s stomach. Keith smiles down at him and runs a hand through his soft hair-making Lance sigh.  
“What was that frown for”  
“Hm? Oh, I just didn’t see any family photos.”  
Lance plays with a stray string on Keith’s shirt avoiding his eyes.  
“Oh. Well, I’ve never really seen the point? I never knew my mom and my dad is…well my dad so it never crossed my mind…is it that weird”  
Lance shakes his head and looks up at him sympathetically.  
“It’s not weird. It probably would have been nice if my mom didn’t have all those embarrassing baby photos of me to show to everyone.”  
Keith frowns and looks at sad sadly. Lance shakes his head worriedly rubbing his chin against Keith’s stomach.  
“What? No, why are you sad?”  
“…Your mom didn’t show me those photos.”  
A deep groan erupts form Lance’s lip making Keith laugh heartily as he stares down at him. Lance blows some of his bangs out of his face but looks more amused than annoyed as he turns his head. They sit there in silence just listening to each others breathing before Lance sighs and looks up at him again. Keith swallows at the heavy look and knows immediately where this was going.  
“Keith…”  
“It’s not serious Lance.”  
His blue eyes flick up to his black and purple skin on his cheek and busted lip making the dark haired boy uncomfortable.  
“I mean it-“  
Lance’s sharp look stops him and he waits for the other to speak. He bites his lip worriedly but Lance reaches forward and pulls his lip from his teeth stopping him. He smiles compassionately at him but flicks his busted lip setting off a myriad of curse words.  
“Keith. You showed up to my friend’s house with a busted face. And didn’t tell me about it...”  
Keith’s mouth falls open slightly and he thinks he must look like a trout to Lance, but that’s not what he was expecting to hear from him.  
“Oh, um I’m sorry.”  
Lance blinks at him and nods absolutely.  
“You just need to tell me shit okay?”  
Lance searches his face and waits for Keith to make eye contact with him before he lets the anxiety settle in his stomach.  
“Uh okay.”  
His eyes flick away but Lance taps his arm lightly forcing him to look back at him.   
“I mean it. If we’re going to be boyfriends you need to do boyfriend shit, like get yelled at by me when you do something to your stupid face or let someone do something to your stupid face.”  
Keith laughs and nods understandingly.  
“Okay.”  
“Do you get where I’m coming from?”  
Keith nods.  
“You don’t like when people touch my pretty face.”  
Lance frowns and moves to slap him with a pillow but Keith catches it and looks at him warningly.   
“I’m kidding. I’ll tell you things in the future…especially if my face gets messed up. I didn’t mean to worry you.”  
Lance pouts but puts the pillow down calling off their battle for now.  
“…Well you did. I don’t like thinking about people hitting you Keith.”  
Keith nods and gently touches his bruised cheek wincing a bit. Lance looks at him worriedly and takes his hand from his face so he can cradle it in his own tanner ones. Keith finally looks down at him and notices that between their fighting Lance had ended up in his lap straddling his hips. Lance looks down too and smiles lightly as he rubs his bruised knuckles.  
“…Do you want to talk about this?”  
“Not really.”  
“Okay we don’t have to.”  
Lance looks down to stare at his shirt where his hands found there way into the soft material over his stomach. Keith flinches from his touch and Lance moves his fingers again eliciting the same reaction. Lance looks up at him and Keith gives him a warning look to which he smirks at.  
“Are you…?”  
“Don’t you dare.”  
Lance begins attacking his stomach and sides making Keith flail about on his mattress trying to escape Lance’s hands.  
“Lance-stop!”  
“Oh come on! You’re gonna have to do better than this Keith. I have a million siblings!”  
Keith laughs and chokes on air as he grabs lances hands and throws his leg over so he flips their position. Lance laughs as he ends up on his back with both wrists captured in Keith’s strong grip. Keith breathes heavily trying to get his tense muscles to relax after the onslaught of tickles.  
“…That was mean.”  
Lance winks at him at the sight of his boyfriend out of breath above him. Keith’s dark eyes find his and the breath immediately leaves his lungs. Keith’s grip loosens and Lance winds his fingers back into the fabric of his boyfriend’s shirt but this time his fingers slip under the hem to his skin. Keith glances down at him and Lance marvels at the tight muscle he finds there.  
“Whoa.”  
Keith smirks and sits back on his heels looking down at Lance who leans up on his elbows looking at him curiously.  
“What-“  
Keith slips his shirt off and Lance’s voice disappears and is replaced with a squeak. Keith chuckles and leans forward watching as Lance focuses in on his taught abs. He wasn’t the most built guy in the world, but he knew his abs were good and so were his back muscles…came from all the running and lifting.   
“Like what you see princess?”  
Lance shivers at the nickname and grabs Keith’s hips bringing him forward so he falls into his lip.  
“Lance-“  
Lance winds his fingers into the hair at Keith’s nape pulling him down to meet his waiting lips. Both their eyes fall shut at the contact and Keith gently holds face and rests his other hand on his clothed chest. Lance gently nips at his lip and deepens the kiss when Keith moans out. Their tongues wrap around each other fighting for dominance before Lance gives up and lets Keith ravish his mouth. When Lance pulls back to take a breath Keith takes the opportunity to kiss down his jaw and focus on his neck. His teeth scrape the soft skin there making Lance groan in pleasure. Keith smirks and licks a strip of his skin until he reaches the outer shell of his ear.  
“Keith…”  
“You started it.”  
His teeth gently pull his lobe before Lance pulls him back to his mouth trying to distract himself from his growing problem. Eventually Keith pulls back and looks down at the swollen lips of Lance and the slight mark that he left on him.  
“…You’re beautiful.”  
“I know. Help me get my shirt off.”  
Keith laughs and obliges him as he pulls the material over his head admiring the expanse of tan skin it reveals. Lance catches Keith staring making him laugh.  
“You saw all of this the other day at the pool.”  
“So? I was trying not to focus on you.”  
Lance smirks and traces his fingers up the indents in Keith’s abs watching them tighten under his touch.  
“Why didn’t you want to focus on me?”  
Keith’s eyes flick up to his loving the way his blue eyes pierce him.  
“…Didn’t want to have to explain a boner to you when you were done.”  
“Oh yeah? You though me being wet and half naked was hot?”  
Keith groans and shakes his head making his long hair over his face.  
“You’re killing me Lance.”  
“At least when you die you’ll have this amazing view in your memory.”  
Keith laughs and nods before leaning forward and capturing his lips again.   
“I’d die the happiest man.”  
Lance smiles up at him but winces when Keith shifts hitting his crotch.  
“What?”  
“You hit my boner and I’m just really hard right now because you’re hot.”  
Keith looks down at him and then back up before smiling and diving back in to kiss him heavily. Lance whimpers against his mouth making Keith smirk as he gets bolder and runs a hand over the tent in his pants. Lance’s head shoots back onto the pillows as Keith kisses down his bare chest. He takes time teasing his nipples until they’re hard and perky in the air-conditioned air.   
“Keith…”  
Keith lets right nipple fall from his mouth at the wonton look Lance is shooting him so he scoots down blowing a raspberry on his belly button making his muscles tighten amazingly.  
“God, you’re so hot.”  
Lance’s grunt is enough of admission of agreement for Keith as he moves his lips to mouth over his clothed erection. Lance squirms at the sensation and raises his hips slightly to garner more friction. Keith goes to pop the button on his jeans but looks up to Lance for his permission. A small nod has him unzipping the material and shoving his jeans and boxers down in one fell swoop. Lance blushes at his embarrassment of being completely naked in front of him but the way Keith swallows at the sight of his hard cock makes his eyes fall shut.  
“Keith please.”  
Keith nods and throws the clothing over the edge of the bed and kisses the skin on his soft thigh earing another groan from Lance when he realizes Keith was going to continue to tease him. He kisses his hard hipbones and runs his hands up his thighs spreading them slightly so he can get a better angle. Porn made this look so easy. He gently takes Lance’s erection in his hand and runs his fist up and down experimentally before he thumbs the tip earing another moan from Lance. Glancing up he can see the flush spreading form Lance’s ears to his chest as he squirms in his touch. His tongue laps at the head swallowing the bead of precum that gathered there. When that gets a louder reaction Keith moves his mouth around his length taking in a few inches as he bobs his head letting his hand move on the rest of him. After a minute of this Lance’s hand finds its way into his long hair massaging his scalp encouraging him to take more. Keith slowly relaxes his jaw and takes almost all of Lance into his mouth and swallowing when he can’t take any more.  
“Mierda santa esto es asombroso!”  
Keith flicks his eyes up at Lance after blinking away the tears from having a dick in his mouth for the first time. He bobs his head a few times noticing how Lance’s fingers tighten in his hair before a warning of “shit Keith stop” is heard but Keith just swallows around Lance making him cum harshly. The tan boys hand holds his head down as he rides out his orgasm eventually relaxing when he’s done. Keith slowly brings his head up and swallows down everything Lance gave him. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand as he looks over the wrecked form of Lance.   
“Keith what the hell. Where’d that come from?”  
Keith shrugs and moves up the bed to flop beside him after he slips under the covers dragging them over Lance. He lightly drapes an arm over his stomach pulling him to his chest. Lance turns in his arms to smile up at him as he kisses his lip gently.  
“That was amazing.”  
“Yeah?”  
Lance nods excitedly and kisses his collarbone.  
“If I knew you could give a blow job like that I would have gotten you riled up weeks ago.”  
Keith scoffs and rolls his eyes affectionately.  
“Well that makes me feel good.”  
“It was a compliment.”  
“Mhm sure.”  
Lance wrinkles his nose at him winding their legs together.  
“I’m glad I was decent…it was my first time.”  
Lance stills at that knowledge and he looks up at him sharply.  
“Wait…what?”  
Keith blushes almost confirming what Lance’s mind was thinking.  
“Keith…you’ve never done that before?”  
Keith mumbles something but the look Lance sends him makes him sigh and speak up.  
“I haven’t done a lot of stuff like this…ever.”  
Lance blinks twice digesting that information making Keith’s blush deepen.  
“Lance-“  
“You’re a virgin?”  
Keith stops and the look he sends Lance answers his question.  
“Holy shit…I’m sorry! I wouldn’t have grabbed your hair if I knew.”  
Keith snorts and nods to him with a chuckle.  
“I handled it.”  
Lance’s leer makes him squirm but quick kiss to his lips makes his heart flutter.  
“Aw my boyfriend the virgin. You’re so cute and innocent. Maybe you’re the Disney princess after all?”  
Keith grabs him tightly forcing him back down enjoying the eruption of laughter from his tan boyfriend.


End file.
